


Do you ever stop flirting?

by thecurlymop



Series: the momas uni!verse [1]
Category: The Crimson Field
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Smut, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, So many tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-09 05:24:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 25,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3237905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecurlymop/pseuds/thecurlymop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miles and Thomas end up sharing a house at university. The thing is, this isn't the first time they've met and they're not exactly friends. A modern day momas at uni story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Moving In

**Chapter 1: Moving In**

Tom hated this part. Last year his mother had sobbed embarrassingly on his shoulder while his sisters tried to drag her away. This year she was doing slightly better. He thought he’d seen a tear or two when she’d been making his bed (she’d insisted) but so far the sobbing hadn’t started. He escorted her to the car and kissed her on the cheek. She mumbled something about phoning her regularly and eating his vegetables and quickly got into the car, driving off without even a glance back at him.  
  
Back in the house, he found Flora and Kitty discussing moving some of the furniture around while unpacking their stuff into the kitchen cupboards.  
  
‘Tom! What do you think about turning the table ninety degrees? I think it would make the kitchen look more spacious but Flora disagrees.’  
  
‘No, Kitty, it would make it much harder to move around the room, there would be barely any space at that end of the table to sit, let alone get up and leave the room.’  
Tom rolled his eyes. ‘Seeing as you can’t decide and I have no idea, why don’t we just experiment?’  
  
As they wrestled with the table, which was heavier than it had looked at first, noises started up outside. It sounded like a whole herd of elephants had decided to come and visit but they kept dragging the table round until it was the way Kitty wanted it. They were viewing the results of their hard work when a loud rapping started up on the door along with a raised voice.  
  
‘Floooora, are you there, it’s meeeee!’  
  
‘Miles!’  
  
Flora charged into the hall and opened the door and as Kitty and Tom followed more sedately, they could hear excitable shrieks from both Flora and her friend Miles. As the pair came into view, bouncing up and down in a sea of boxes, he realised the unknown boy was more than a little familiar to him.  
  
‘NO,’ he said, the force in his voice startling him a bit, ‘you must be joking, this isn’t fair. I’m not sharing a house with that idiot!’  
  
Kitty rounded on him, ‘that’s not a very friendly way to greet our other housemate, Thomas. I thought you had better manners.’  
  
‘Kitty,’ he said weakly, unhappy being the focus of Flora and Kitty’s angry glares and Miles’ amused expression.  
  
‘What is your problem Tom? You knew that our other housemate was arriving tonight.’  
  
He glanced angrily at Kitty. What was his problem? ‘My problem is that I didn’t know it was going to be him and he is an idiot and I never wanted to see him again.’  
  
At this point Miles piped up from behind Flora. ‘Well I don’t particularly want to live with you either. I didn’t even before I was greeted in that fashion. But I want to live in this house with these two lovely ladies,’ he indicated Kitty and Flora, ‘and I don’t intend to let your stupid grudge stop me from having a nice year.’  
  
‘Fine!’ snapped Tom, fully aware he was being a little dramatic, ‘well I want to live here and I got here first. So you’re just going to have to go. And it's not a stupid grudge.’  
  
Kitty moved forward to intervene. ‘No-one’s going anywhere. I’m sorry you didn’t know that Miles was our other housemate, but now you do know. Can we please at least wait until tomorrow to talk about this further? At least try to keep your grudge to yourself for the moment Tom? Come on Miles, grab a box and I’ll show you your room.’  
  
Carrying an impressive stack of boxes, Miles strode past Tom, who was still gaping at the treachery from one of his closest friends.  
  
‘I know I’m impressive,’ he said flirtatiously, ‘but there’s no need to gawp.’  
  
Tom shut his mouth with a snap. ‘Stop it. That’s how this all started in the first place.’  
  
‘What?’ asked Miles innocently.  
  
‘It started with you flirting. Do you ever stop?’  
  
He wondered if Miles was just like that with everyone or if he reserved a special brand of ridiculous charm just for him. Miles’ flirtatious glances as he walked back and forth to his room were reminding Tom uncomfortably of when they had first met.


	2. First Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just in case you are confused, this chapter is a flashback. Also to warn you, a little bit of smut

**Chapter 2: First Meetings**

**The previous year.**

Kitty had made it her mission to make him go out and get drunk at least once a week. Apparently he needed to enjoy his first year away from home and take advantage of the fact that no-one would judge him for getting drunk. He wanted to say that actually he would be perfectly happy not to go out, there were plenty of things he could do instead, but she didn’t seem like she would allow that as an excuse.

‘Kitty I don’t want to go on another bar crawl,’ Tom said, lingering in her doorway.

‘It’ll be fun, you’ll see,’ said Kitty absently, focusing on her eyeliner.

‘The sciences one wasn’t fun. The music one was madness. What makes you think that the languages one will be better?’

‘Well, I know some of the people who are going so we’ll have friends.’ She smiled at him reassuringly and grabbed his arm to go.

He wasn’t so sure. ‘You mean you’ll have friends.’

‘Same thing,’ she shrugged. ‘Come on, we’re meeting at The Old Piggery at half past so we need to get a move on.’

They trotted through the streets. Even though it was only the start of September, there was already an autumnal dampness in the air and the warmth of the pub hit them in a wave as they walked through the bar.

 

‘Who are we meeting again?’ muttered Tom in Kitty’s direction.

‘Miles and Flora, I’ve met them most nights at some point and they’re good fun. Miles is very good looking and he’s not that bothered who he kisses if you know what I mean.’ The last part of the sentence was accompanied by a crude wiggle of her well defined eyebrows and Tom inwardly winced. She was displaying every tiny bit of the alcohol she’d already had at pre-drinks and it was only the start of the night. He hoped that this time he didn’t have to carry her. It would at least be good if she were awake when he carried her back.

 

‘Kitty! Don’t you look ravishing this evening!’ A dark haired boy had approached them while he was thinking of the end of the night and he was hugging Kitty while a very cheerful girl waited to do the same.

‘Tom, this is Miles and Flora,’ Kitty said, slightly breathless from the hugging. Tom awkwardly waved and he saw Miles’ mouth twitch as if he was trying not to laugh. It was only the start of the evening and he already wanted to go home.

 

They got drinks and Flora disappeared off into the arms of her new boyfriend without a second glance. Kitty struck up a conversation with another girl and Tom stayed with her because he didn’t really know what else to do. Miles stayed near, exchanging apparently hilarious banter with a few other posh types across the bar. Then they disappeared and Miles remained, eyes scanning the people around him for a new target. His gaze hit Tom and he squirmed. He hated being the focus of anyone’s attention, especially handsome boys.

‘So, I haven’t seen you out before. Are you friends with Kitty?’

Tom faltered for a moment, he had been expecting a crude joke but Miles had just gone straight for normal conversation. This was an unexpectedly positive moment in his evening.

‘Uh yeah, she lives in my flat. She drags me out sometimes but I think it’s more so she’ll have someone to lean on for the walk home.’

‘Hmm,’ said Miles appraisingly. ‘I think I’d enjoy leaning on you too.’

‘Sorry?’

‘Well look at you. Handsome stable man, you aren’t drinking much and you look quite strong.’

Miles made a motion as if he were about to squeeze Tom’s arm and he quickly moved it away. He thought he saw a shadow of hurt cross Miles’ face before he started to talk again.

‘Anyway, what do you study? I’m doing languages.’

‘Chemistry.’

‘Ooh, a chemist. Do you blow things up? Have you made any discoveries since starting your course? I know! Do you detect any chemistry between us?’

‘What languages do you study?’ Tom countered, trying to steer the conversation back to less flirtatious waters.

‘Spanish and French. Both countries can teach us Brits a lot about romance you know. Especially the French. Have you ever frenched with a person who learnt from a Frenchman?’

‘Do you ever stop flirting?’ Tom asked Miles, more to try and halt the flow of words emitting from the other man than because he was interested.

‘Well yes, I do. I reserve this sort of charm for those I am truly lusting over,’ Miles answered with a grin.

‘Urgh, really?’

Tom got the feeling that Miles was rather enjoying himself and truth be told, so was he. It was more than he had expected that evening.

Miles seemed to take that as a challenge rather than the brush off Tom had intended.

‘I think you’re cute but I guess if you’re not interested, there are plenty who are. That guy over there is one. He’s been checking me out since I got here. That one to my left, I nearly had him a week ago, great kisser, he had onion breath though. That girl, the blonde one talking to the tiny one, I got her number last night but I’m sure we could do more than talk if I went over there. See, I could pick anyone and instead I’m talking to you and it’s not because of your charm, although I do quite like your accent.’

Tom had managed to remain fairly unbothered through most of this but the final bit was too much. The idea that Miles was ‘favouring him’ by talking at him was really annoying. However, if Miles was as truly sought after as he claimed, maybe it would be worth taking advantage of this opportunity.

‘If I kiss you, will you shut up?’

It was a little blunter than he had meant to be, but still, the sentiment or lack thereof was there.

Miles shut up and looked appraisingly at Tom. Tom couldn’t believe that he had said that and more to the point that Miles was even considering it.

‘Yeah, ok then.’

Miles moved towards Tom, looking awkward enough that Tom began to wonder how much of what he’d said had been true. Miles was suddenly standing right in front of Tom and the noise of the pub seemed to have disappeared completely. Then Tom’s mouth was on Miles’ and it was clumsy but perfect. Little kisses, leading to deeper ones, hands moved to grope under clothing and somehow they’d moved until Tom was almost on top of Miles in the corner.

‘Shit, we can’t do this here.’

Miles pushed Tom off and saw by his expression that he hadn’t heard Miles and obviously thought that Miles was rejecting him. Miles grabbed his hand and pulls him in again. Standing, they were pretty much the same height and he leant in to kiss him, relishing in the new angle. Tom followed him willingly out of the bar, feeling surprised but happy, his plan to shut Miles up had gone much further than he had expected. They walked quickly, with Miles leading the way and Tom stopping occasionally to push him against walls and kiss him again. It was an inefficient way to travel and by the time they made it to Miles’ room, Tom was barely registering his surroundings. They crashed in through the door, having rebounded off several others in the corridor. He was pretty sure that someone had opened their door and was watching them scramble into Miles’ room but to be honest he really didn’t care.

Tom hadn’t considered himself inexperienced but Miles made him feel unsure and underconfident. They kept kissing, slowly shedding layers of clothing. Miles had obviously noticed that Tom wasn’t entirely with him because he kept stopping to check that Tom was still okay with what was happening. The kisses were getting sloppier and uncoordinated, more like their mouths were touching as they breathed in and out as they lay down on the bed.

Miles had his hand round Tom’s cock when he stopped and asked again, ‘is this ok, is this what you want?’

Tom nodded and reached forward to crush them together again. At this point he just wanted to come, he didn’t care how they did it. They got into some sort of rhythm but quickly fell out of it again, just finding friction where they could until Tom came and then Miles followed him, collapsing on top of Tom in a pile of sweaty limbs. They lay there panting until Miles stirred to reach for a shirt from the pile on the floor and made a cursory attempt at cleaning them off before slumping next to Tom.

Tom fought the overwhelming urge to fall asleep, he wasn’t even sure if Miles wanted him to stay, the bed was cramped and Miles wasn’t exactly making it clear.

‘Umm, should I go?’ he finally asked.

Miles answer was a deep breath and an arm thrown across Tom, shuffling towards him until they were semi spooning. Tom closed his eyes and went to sleep, enjoying the strange comfort of another body next to his.

When he woke, early as always, he considered staying. Miles’ bed was warm and Miles himself was enticingly close and still had an arm slung over Tom’s torso. But Tom was feeling increasingly like he shouldn’t be there. He knew that Miles was far better looking than he was and he’d obviously slept with loads of people before Tom had come along. Tom was just another notch on his bedpost and he didn’t want to stick around for the inevitable goodbye. It was far better for him to depart on his own terms. Accordingly, Tom slid out of bed, got dressed quickly, was pleased to discover that his shirt wasn’t what had been used for clean up the previous night, and left, quickly kissing Miles on the forehead as he did because he was unable not to. At the last moment, he scrawled his number on a post it and left it on Miles’ pillow. If, for some insane reason, Miles did want Tom to be more than a one night stand, he’d have a way of contacting Tom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smut? smut? I have no idea. Was it bad?


	3. Settling In

**Chapter 3 Settling In**  
  
  
For the next few days, Tom focussed on settling back into not being at home. The adjustment wasn’t as great as in first year but he still found himself missing the home cooked food that waited for him every evening at home. Here, any home cooked food he ate had to be cooked first which took quite a bit of the niceness out of it.  
  
They all had a few days before lectures started and Tom was determined to get some of his reading done in that time. Kitty and Flora seemed to be spending most of their time catching up with friends they’d missed over the summer and Miles was hardly ever there which suited Tom just fine. The less he had to see him the better for all concerned. They’d only had to spend more than quarter of an hour together once and that was because Flora had insisted on a house supper to welcome everyone back.  
  
They’d eaten slightly underdone lasagne and slightly overdone garlic bread and the girls had chatted with Miles joining in quite a bit and Tom sitting in the corner, minding his own business and wondering when he could escape. He knew that Flora and Kitty wanted them to be a united friendly household, almost like a family but they should have thought about that before inviting Miles to join them without consulting Tom. He’d have been happier to live with practically anyone else. Still, they just ignored each other mostly and if they happened to be in the same room together, one of them would make an excuse pretty quickly and disappear. It could be worse. At least they weren’t in a state of all-out war.

 

Tom didn’t see why fate had dictated he had the room next to Miles’. He kept hearing all sorts of sounds that he didn’t want to hear and he felt like Miles was doing it intentionally.  
  
‘Kitty will you switch rooms with me?’  
  
‘No.’ She hadn’t even looked at him and he was doing his best puppy eyes.  
  
‘But I have to share a wall with Miles. I don’t want to see him all the time. And I can hear him all the time. It’s horrendous.’  
  
‘You live with him Tom, you’re just going to have to put up with it.’  
  
‘But Kitty, I can hear him, you know… doing things.’  
  
Kitty looked like she was trying not to laugh. ‘You can hear him with his overnight guests you mean?’  
  
They’d all been a bit surprised when the first overnight guest appeared in their kitchen, eating cereal and wearing one of Miles’ shirts with nothing underneath. Since then, Tom had become hardened to these morning distractions, well, he found the boys distracting, the girls less so. What was really uncomfortable was the knowledge that he’d been able to hear everything they’d been up to the night before.  
  
‘Yes and sometimes… well, I can hear him when I know he hasn’t got any guests as well, stop laughing, it’s really distracting Kitty.’  
  
Kitty was well and truly laughing now. ‘Well you’ll just have to talk to him, see if he’ll try and keep it down out of consideration for his moody Scottish housemate.’  
  
‘I’m not moody.’  
  
‘Well you are when it comes to him. You are always finding something to complain about. If it’s not him being noisy, it’s the way he leaves his bowl in the sink or the way he rearranges the spices so they’re not in alphabetical order.’  
  
‘It’s really annoying, I put cinnamon on my scrambled eggs last week when I was aiming for the coriander.’  
  
‘Coriander on scrambled eggs?’ Kitty burst out laughing again, and he supposed it was funny when it didn’t happen to you.  
  
‘Well cinnamon is even worse.’  
  
‘You should probably start checking these things then,’ she said smartly as she walked out of the kitchen. He could still hear her cackling while she was walking up the stairs. He resisted the urge to bang his head against something. Talking to Miles was exactly what he didn’t want to do.  
  


The trouble with Miles was that you couldn’t circle round the subject and hope he would get the point, you had to be direct. He started off by trying to tactfully point that the soundproofing in their house wasn’t that great and that maybe they should all be more considerate of others who might be trying to sleep. All that got him was a litany of complaints about Tom’s early morning runs and how they woke Miles every morning without fail.  
  
Exasperated that the conversation now appeared to be focussing on the noise that he created rather than the noise he had to listen to almost every night, Tom blurted, ‘It’s not me that has ridiculously noisy sex all the time, Miles, can’t you gag yourself or something?’  
  
‘Kinkyyyy…’  
  
Miles smirked predictably and Tom felt like his eyes were going to roll out of his head. ‘You know what I mean. Unlike you, I’m actually trying to get my degree and your loud moans don’t help my study.’  
  
‘Distracting are they?’  
  
‘You’re bloody loud and it’s annoying.’  
  
‘Well Will likes it and when Will likes something, he’s much better in bed so sorry but I don’t intend on stopping. I can try to stick to a timetable if you’d like, but I’ve heard spontaneity is better for relationships, overplanning is sure death to romance you know.’  
  
‘Urgh. Like you’d know what romance is. Or a relationship. Will’s just one in a long line of fuck buddies.’  
  
‘Hey, that’s not fair. Just because you’re not getting any, doesn’t mean you can take it out on those of us who are more fortunate.’ Miles smirked as he left the room and Tom kicked the table leg in an attempt to release some of his frustration.  
  
  



	4. So much frustration

Tom was sure that since their first conversation, Miles had got louder. He’d also started bringing his fuck buddies over in the middle of the day as well as at night. Tom had completely forgotten his train of thought while writing out chemistry equations for revision the previous day when Miles had started wailing in counterpoint to the rhythmic banging from his headboard. Since their first talk had only made things worse, Tom thought he might as well try Kitty again.

‘Kitty can you tell Miles to stop having loud sex in the middle of the day. In fact at all.’

‘Tell him yourself. I’ve already told you to,’ she replies, absently.

‘I have.’

‘I wonder how that went.’

‘Not well. Please Kitty, he likes you, he might listen to you.’

‘Well as I haven’t been listening to him having sex, I can’t comment on how loud he is. I also have no cause for complaint. Sorry, you’re going to have to sort this yourself. Besides, there’s always the attic room?’

‘Urgh. It’s tiny though. And then he’d know he’d won.’

She shrugged. ‘Suit yourself.’

Tom lay in bed that night wondering if Kitty had talked to Miles. There were definitely two people in the room next door but so far they’d been fairly quiet. However, just as he’d put his book down and turned out his light, the noises started. He swore that Miles had lookouts posted to time his sexual antics to exactly when Tom wanted to sleep. Eventually he drifted off, sadly reminded that this wasn’t the first or the last time he would fall asleep to this particular lullaby...

 

[the previous year]

‘Ooooooh.’

A moan echoes down the hallway towards them.

‘Ahhh, right thereeeeee.’

‘Rosalie, is that what I think it is?’ Tom is hoping it’s not. The male voice sounds familiar and he’s hoping he doesn’t know either of the participants.

‘Well yes Tom, I think it is,’ Rosalie says, her face twitching between disgust and laughter.

Tom isn’t in the mood for this kind of encounter. ‘Why? Why us? Why here?’

‘Washing machines are supposed to help.’ She’s definitely laughing now, though he feels it’s mostly that she’s laughing at him.

‘Why do you have to be so matter of fact about this kind of thing? I just wanted to do my washing, not eavesdrop on someone having sex.’

‘Oooooh yesssssss that’s so goooooooood.’ The moans are getting louder.

‘Do you think they’re nearly done?’ Rosalie says conversationally as they stand by the door.

‘They’re getting noisier, if that’s any indication, and the spin cycle seems to have started too.’

The moans and rattling of the washing machine mix in a strange counterpoint.

‘This is weird isn’t it.’ He feels awkward listening to someone having very vocal sex, even if they did choose to do it in a public place.

‘Yep. I feel very voyeuristic but we just lugged our washing down all those stairs and I really don’t want to have to take it back up until it’s clean.’

‘Exactly.’

‘So we wait?’

‘We could interrupt?’ The laughter is still bubbling underneath her solemn expression and he feels like she would actually do it.

‘Rosalie! I don’t think I want to do that. I mean, what if it’s someone we know? Or worse, what if it’s someone we meet later and we have to pretend we’ve never seen them before?’

‘Well I don’t really care about that, it’s not as if I meet people anyway.’

‘True.’ He nods, Rosalie isn't the most sociable person he knows.

‘So shall I go and interrupt them?’

‘I suppose so, I mean it doesn’t sound like they’ll stop soon without our intervention.’

‘Okay, let’s be noisy and then hopefully they’ll have stopped by the time we actually open the door?’ They pick up their baskets and tread purposefully towards the laundry door.

‘TOM!’ yells Rosalie, ‘CAN YOU HELP ME WITH THIS.’

‘OF COURSE, LET ME GET THAT FOR YOU.’

He noisily struggles with the door, dropping his basket with a clatter and cursing his luck all the time. Inside the laundry room he can hear clatters and agitated muttering and he hopes they’ve given them enough warning because he can’t wrestle with the door forever. He stoops to grab his basket again and comes up face to face with a familiar person.

‘Tom!’ He actually sounds pleased to see him, the bastard.

‘Miles.’ Tom isn’t pleased. He isn’t thinking about how good Miles looks. He isn’t thinking about how Miles looked like that after they’d…

‘I didn’t know you lived here!’

Are they going to pretend this isn’t really awkward? ‘I didn’t know you… well, I know you don’t live here.’ Nope, it looks like he’s going to make it even more awkward by pointing out that Miles was having sex in a laundry room that isn’t even his.

‘Right, yes.’ Miles has the grace to look a little embarrassed. ‘Umm yes, I was just helping Soph with her laundry-‘

‘Yes, we heard.’ Tom turns to look at Rosalie in horror. She has just made it abundantly clear that they know what Miles and Soph have been doing in there. He grits his teeth. He is not jealous. Not at all. Nope.

‘Come on Rose, we need to get moving.’ He brushes past Miles and doesn’t breathe in. He doesn’t know if he could cope with the scent of Miles’ cologne right now. He just wants to do his laundry in peace. He hears Miles and Soph leaving and Rosalie comes into the room.

‘So you know him then.’ She’s not asking but he nods anyway. ‘Oh god is that him? The one from the bar crawl?’

She’s always spot on. He nods again, trying not to look at her. She slips an arm around his shoulders and he leans in, grateful for the comfort even if it feels strange. They may be friends but they don’t really do physical affection.

‘Let’s get this bloody washing sorted then. And Tom? If you want to talk about him, you can. It’s okay to not feel okay, you know?’

He nods again and busies himself with loading up the washing machine. He won’t talk about it, to her or anyone but he’s glad it’s Rosalie he’s with. Kitty would try to make him talk but Rosalie won’t and she also won’t talk about what happened to anyone else. Sometimes he really appreciates Rosalie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, Tom and Rosalie friendship is one of my favourite things to write :) hope the flashback thing wasn't too weird.


	5. Halloween

‘Right you lot, it’s Halloween!’

‘It’s the start of October, Kitty,’ Tom points out gently.

‘Exactly, that means it’s Halloween! We need to start thinking about house decorations and if we’re going to do a group costume or not.’

‘I vote yes,’ said Flora, grinning at Kitty. Together they would make excellent grinning pumpkins, Tom thinks absently.

‘I vote no. Especially if I have to dress up near him,’ said Miles grumpily, not looking at Tom.

‘Well I won’t be taking part so you’re free to do as you wish without thinking about me,’ he retorts.

‘Tom! You have to take part, that’s what Halloween’s about!’

‘No. I don’t like Halloween, I’ve had some bad experiences and I’d rather not have any of them repeated.’

‘What sort of bad experiences?’ asked Flora.

Miles caught Tom’s eye and to his surprise he headed Flora off. ‘It’s probably nothing Flora. What do you think we should dress up as?’

They went off into a conversation about Disney characters versus TV shows and Tom was left feeling absurdly grateful and surprised that Miles even remembered what had happened and had possibly any thought for Tom’s feelings at all.

* * *

 

THE PREVIOUS YEAR:

‘Right, we’re going out for Halloween.’ She was using that no-nonsense tone that he thinks will work excellently when she has kids. It works excellently on childish students at any rate.

‘Kittyyyyyyy.’ Whining might not have any effect but it makes him feel better.

‘No excuses, we’re all going. I’ve even thought of costumes for everyone. Tom, you’ll be a zombie like in that gay zombie drama you liked so much. Rosalie, you can join me and Flora if you’d like, we’re going to be a witch coven.’

‘Why does Rosalie get to choose and I don’t?’

‘Because Rosalie may actually have her own plans for Halloween.’

‘But what about my plans for Halloween.’

‘I know you don’t have any.’

Ouch. Well he probably deserved that.

Tom was dressed as a zombie. Kitty was a witch and had ganged up with Flora as soon as they had seen each other. Rosalie had claimed she was meeting up with some music students, though Tom didn’t believe her. Five minutes into the party he was accosted by an anonymous vampire. Anonymous in that he was masked and wearing so much face paint that even though his voice sounded vaguely familiar, Tom had no idea who he was but he evidently recognised Tom.

‘Tom! I thought I heard your lovely Scottish brogue from over there. Would you like a beer?’

Tom would like a beer. He’d also like the vampire actually, from what Tom could see, he was slim but well built, exactly Tom’s type in fact. They chatted for a while, Tom told him about the inspiration for his costume and perhaps even managed to convince him to watch it. They flirted a little and at some point they ended up curled on a sofa together in the corner and the vampire was trailing little kisses up his neck and it was _awesome_.

Then the hosts of the party were chucking everyone out even though it was only just past 2am and they stumbled out of the flat and stood in the corridor, drunkenly leaning on each other before Tom had a brainwave.

‘I live here,’ he said.

The vampire looked up from where he had been contemplating his boots. ‘Where?’ he said, sounding adorably confused.

‘Here, in this building.’

‘Is that you inviting me back with you?’

‘Yeah.’ He held back a twinge of excitement over seeing the vampire without his mask on at last – he had strenuously resisted all of Tom’s attempts to remove it. They took the lift up and the vampire held him all the way, chin resting on his shoulder and murmuring softly in his ear, mostly drunken nonsense but it felt nice. When they got to the room the vampire immediately plonked himself on the end of Tom’s bed and busied himself with taking off his boots. To be fair, they had a lot of laces.

‘I’m, er, going to take off this make-up-' Tom felt awkward just disappearing into his en-suite and leaving a drunken stranger in his room but he wanted to take the damn foundation off, it had been itching like crazy since Kitty put it on him. He left the door open and as he was wiping the worst of the ridiculously orange gunk off he realised he didn’t know the vampire’s name.

‘What’s your name anyway?’ he called.

‘Err, you can call me M,’ came the reply.

‘You’re going to have to let me know who you are at some point because I’m not letting you sleep here if you don’t take off your face paint you know,’ said Tom reasonably. He didn’t want stains on his pillowcases really.

‘Oh.’ There was a muffled curse and then a thump, presumably from a boot hitting the floor. ‘I guess I’ll take my make-up off after you then.’

Tom jumped as the vampire appeared in the doorway, watching as Tom swiped cotton wool over his face to remove the last traces of his disguise.

Tom was halfway through changing when he heard hysterical drunken giggling coming from the vampire. He went to investigate and was brought up short by the man coming out.

‘It won’t come off Tom,’ shrugged Miles, looking a bit uncomfortable. He’d got the majority of his disguise off but had been left with black eyeliner streaks down his cheeks and hadn’t managed that well with his hairline either.

‘Miles?’ Tom was flabbergasted.

The idiot scratched the back of his neck and shrugged again. ‘Yeah, it’s me. I, er, I can go if you want me to.’

Tom looked at Miles. He was still swaying gently and his eyelids were fluttering as if he was going to fall asleep at any moment. In a split second, he made his decision.

‘Come here. Sit.’

He directed Miles to sit at the end of the bed and went to get the make-up remover. It was clear that Miles had only used water and this would do the job much better. As Tom cleaned off his make-up properly, Miles relaxed even more, leaning into Tom’s hand like a cat. His hands rested on Tom’s hipbones, stroking gently and Tom had to concentrate extra hard as he felt Miles’ breath flutter past his ribcage. When he was done, he helped a now childishly floppy Miles take most of his clothing off and lie down. Normally he hated his narrow double bed for taking up too much room in his tiny bedroom but at this point he was grateful, it meant they could share the bed without being too squished up together. But as soon as he got into bed, Miles latched on to him, an arm around his waist and a contented snuffle against his t-shirt and Tom lay there wondering why this had happened to him and wishing it hadn’t happened and guiltily enjoying the warmth of Miles against his side.

He woke around 11 the next morning, immediately feeling that there was something wrong. He rolled and paper scrunched under his cheek. It was a note from Miles. All it said was _sorry_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm really excited that people are actually reading this, I had no idea if the fandom even still existed. Your kudos/comments are much appreciated and if you want to come and say hi on tumblr where I am also thecurlymop, you're more than welcome :)   
> Also just to let you know, I'm currently transferring my shorter crimson field fics onto the archive so if you want to read them...


	6. Upsets and Plots

Miles rolled in as they were discussing the previous night’s madness over hangover curing toast and coffee. Tom didn’t usually drink the stuff but today he needed it. He hadn’t intended to go out with the others but somehow in between knocking back pre-drinks, Kitty had persuaded him that her life would only be complete if he let her paint his face. With a huge orange t-shirt borrowed from Flora, he’d been a half-hearted pumpkin and had come home a lot earlier than the others, but still considerably drunk.

Flora let out a soft cheer at the sight of Miles, definitely the worse for drink and whatever else he’d been up to. Some impressive love bites trailed up his neck and Kitty made a comment about vampires to the accompaniment of Flora’s giggling. Tom tried not to think about the vampire encounter he’d had the year before. Miles launched into an account of the great night he’d had and how he should have got the guy’s number without even acknowledging his audience. Tom wasn’t sure if it was Miles’ self-congratulatory tone or the way it aggravated his already aching head but something made him snap.

‘Did you trick this one too? And did you leave this one a sorry note? Or was that just me?’

Miles looked up sharply. ‘I meant that Tom. I’ve never meant that or done that with anyone else.’

‘Yeah, you should have been sorry, it was a shitty thing to do,’ Tom was past caring that the girls were staring at him incomprehendingly, he just wanted to tell Miles what he thought of him.

‘You have no idea what I was feeling,’ muttered Miles.

‘Yeah well you have no idea what I was feeling either BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T BLOODY STICK AROUND TO ASK, you just left that silly note and nothing else, you never even called.’

‘I didn’t have your number,’ Miles said quietly.

‘Yes you did. And anyway, you could have got to me through Kitty if you’d really wanted to. But you didn’t even try. And I was left to try and sort out what the hell was going on by myself. And now I’m living with you and listening to you talking about doing the same thing with all those other guys and girls and it makes me sick.’

‘Tom, that’s enough!’ shouted Flora.

Tom had already known he’d said too much but the wounded look on Miles’ face confirmed it. He stormed out, already half regretting saying anything at all.  

* * *

By bonfire night, Miles still wasn’t talking to Tom. It had been five days and neither of them had even acknowledged each other and both of them were being increasingly horrible to everyone else. Kitty had joked that they didn’t need bonfire night, there were already enough primed fireworks in the house and they didn’t need to add any more. Tom was so tense that the booming fireworks from the celebrations in the park across the road were making him jump and wince ridiculously. Kitty and Flora had asked him if he wanted to come and watch and he’d decided not to, given his reaction to them from inside.

Miles had disappeared off somewhere else so that meant it was just Kitty and Flora going to the bonfire. As they crossed the road and went through the park gates, Kitty turned to look at Flora.

‘Are we going to talk about it or shall we have a night off from their drama?’

‘Let’s talk about it. This is pretty much the only time we can guarantee they’re not going to hear us talking about them and we need to figure out what to do.’

‘I know,’ Kitty sighed, ‘I’ve tried talking to Thomas but he’s not even admitting to what he said over that breakfast any more, he refuses to talk about it.’

‘And Miles won’t either, I tried to ask him, subtly you know, what had gone on between them but he just snorted and walked away.’

Kitty grinned. Flora’s idea of subtle was far from subtle but that wasn’t the point.

‘So what shall we do?’ she asked.

As the fireworks crackled overhead and they realised this was a bad place to have an actual important conversation, they walked a little further from the main bonfire and managed to find a sheltered spot to talk. They pieced together what they knew of Tom and Miles’ history and began to try and work out a solution.

‘It’s ridiculous,’ Flora eventually exclaimed, ‘they’re such boys! This would never happen between two girls.’

‘It would be far less likely,’ Kitty agreed, ‘but this is the situation we’re in. We need to try and force two very angry boys to communicate.’

‘Yesss,’ Flora said, looking thoughtful, ‘the real question is, what is preventing them from even being civil right now?’

‘They need to apologise,’ Kitty said suddenly, ‘that would make them talk at least, and make the atmosphere a lot less tense too.’

‘Right,’ Flora agreed, ‘okay, you take Tom and I take Miles. Between us, we should be able to make them cave in. Come on, now that’s sorted, we can go and be deafened by the fireworks!’

Shaking her head at Flora’s enthusiasm both for loud explosions and their plans, Kitty followed.

* * *

Kitty began working on Tom the very next day. She walked with him to his lecture, even though she didn’t need to be at uni for another two hours and for most of the walk she talked about nothing in particular. It was only as they were entering the sciences block that she knew she was safe to mention Miles. Tom wouldn’t shout at her there.

‘So Tom, how long are you going to be mad at Miles?’

‘For as long as he’s mad at me,’ he answered grumpily.

‘You know, it’s not exactly fun for me and Flora, stuck in between you two and your tension all the time.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ he said sarcastically, ‘I said it was a bad idea to have him as a housemate from the start if you recall.’

‘Oh for goodness sake, can’t one of you just apologise?’

‘Well it won’t be me.’

He disappeared into a crowd of students without saying another word while she stood and hoped that Flora had had more success.

 

‘I didn’t have any luck with Miles, how did your chat with Tom go?’ Flora said, cornering her in the bathroom where she knew they wouldn’t be disturbed.

‘Keep your voice down, they might hear us,’ Kitty hissed. ‘It was fine until I mentioned Miles and then he got grumpy.’

‘We’re going to have to try again, did you hear them this morning in the kitchen, thumping everything aggressively. I think one of the cupboard doors almost came off when I tried it afterwards.’

‘We have to try again,’ Kitty agreed, ‘even if it’s just for the sake of the house. I don’t think the stairs can cope with the aggression for much longer either.’

As if summoned by their words they heard one or other of the boys thumping up the stairs and held their breath as he tried the bathroom door.

‘Who’s in there?’ came Miles’ voice.

Kitty opened her mouth to answer and then saw Flora doing the same and clapped her hand over Flora’s mouth in a panic.

‘Mmph-‘

‘It’s me,’ Kitty called, ‘I’ll be out in a bit.’

‘Are you okay?’ Miles asked, ‘you sound a bit strange.’

‘I’m er, okay thanks,’ she answered, trying furiously not to laugh and definitely not to look at Flora because if she did, she would rupture something with the strain of holding in her amusement.

Miles’ footsteps moved away and Kitty gasped in some air.

‘We have to find a more discreet place to concoct our schemes,’ Flora said, shaking her head.

 

Kitty and Flora continued to try to get both Miles and Tom to apologise and make amends and then reported back to each other every night. After about a week of making suggestions to Tom, Kitty was fairly sure he was about to crack and he would either hit her the next time she mentioned it or he would apologise so they decided to call a halt to proceedings and see what happened next.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! This chapter was planned out but never actually written during nano and I've been having problems with it ever since but I hope it's okay. As far as I can tell, the rest of the story is written so I should be back to posting regularly. Sorry for the unintentional hiatus!  
> Thank you to the lovely people leaving kudos/comments :)


	7. Tentative truces and housemate additions

Tom tried to tell himself that he really didn’t care about Miles and the tense divide between them but it was getting harder to maintain that façade. It had become harder still because he kept seeing Miles’ hurt face in his mind and hearing Kitty reproaching him. He’d formulated his apology several times in his mind but trying to grab Miles and make him listen was proving difficult. He’d made several attempts already but he was determined that this week he would manage it. Kitty kept giving him disappointed looks when she witnessed them passing each other silently in the hallway with absolutely no interaction and it was getting annoying.

They met in the kitchen that night. Miles looked up as Tom entered and immediately began gathering his stuff, including his half-finished bowl of pasta before Tom had even made it properly through the door.

‘Miles, wait,’ he said gently. ‘I don’t want it to be like this.’

Miles stubbornly continued to avoid his eye but Tom noticed he wasn’t moving quite as quickly.

‘I want to apologise,’ he continued. ‘I’m sorry for being so rude to you all the time and for suggesting that you’re-‘

‘A slut?’ Miles suggested, his voice husky.

‘Er, yeah,’ Tom said awkwardly.

‘It’s okay,’ Miles shrugged, ‘it’s not the first time.’

Tom could hear the sadness in his voice and he didn’t like it. Where was the incredibly annoyingly jaunty Miles he knew and loathed?

‘That doesn’t make it okay though, that it’s happened before,’ he added, ‘I’m really sorry.’

‘Okay.’

Miles didn’t actually leave the kitchen until he’d finished eating and Tom counted that as point in his favour. He’d made the first step and it felt good.

* * *

After that, a truce was established. Miles and Tom did’t talk exactly, but they exchanged words occasionally and if they found themselves in the same room, they didn’t leave abruptly. Kitty came up to Tom the next day, when she saw them nod awkwardly at each other, and her joy was written all over her face.

‘You apologised!’ she cried as soon as Miles had left the house.

‘Yeah,’ Tom said, ‘I mean I think he’s still mad at me, which is fair enough, but at least we’re not quite as tense as we were.’

‘I’m really pleased,’ she said softly. ‘It was horrible being in the war zone.’

Abruptly Tom remembered that her parents had divorced when she was younger and it hadn’t been pleasant. The household being split like that had probably brought back unpleasant memories. He quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. He wasn't very good at it but she obviously appreciated the attempt all the same.

 

* * *

 

Kitty strode in while Tom was having breakfast and trying to read over his notes for the seminar he has later.

‘Rosalie’s moving in with us.’

‘What.’ He looked up to check that she means it. Her face meant business.

‘We’ve got a spare room, she doesn’t want to stay in her house, it’s perfect.’

‘What’s wrong with her house?’ He put his notes away carefully and went to wash up his bowl. If she was going to stop him studying then he might as well do something productive.

‘It turns out that her neighbours can get into her house using the keys to their own house. And Rosalie is thoroughly freaked out and wants to stay with us at least until the locks are changed but she doesn’t really like her housemates anyway so she might end up staying with us forever.’

‘Oh, that sounds like a fairly good reason to not want to be there. How did they find this out?’

‘Well one of the neighbours came home drunk, went into the wrong house and stole a poster from the wall.’ Kitty’s eyes danced in delight at the sheer ridiculousness.

‘What.’

‘You heard me. I thought that kind of thing only happened in books. But it gets better. They actually found out when the rest of their neighbours tried to return the poster without being noticed the next day.’

Tom started to laugh. ‘Is it bad that the first thing I want to know is can they get into the neighbours’ house with their key and have their revenge? I mean it would be perfect.’

‘I wondered that too but Rosalie said that they hadn’t tried and she didn’t intend to as she felt it was a little on the shady side of the law.’

‘Hmm, perhaps she’s right,’ he shrugged, ‘still, I’m curious.’

Kitty abruptly moved on. ‘So now we need to get the boxes out of the little bedroom and move your stuff in.’

‘My stuff? Why me?’

‘Rosalie plays the cello, she needs room to practice and it’s not as if you have a lot of stuff to move, there’s hardly a sign you’ve moved into your room. It’s the most practical solution.’

‘Why doesn’t Miles move?’ Tom could hear himself whining but he keept going.

‘Rosalie doesn’t trust him. She thinks his room will have been the scene of some debauchery or other and she doesn’t want to have to think about it.’

‘I wouldn’t either. Ooh this means I won’t be able to hear him having sex anymore!’

‘I thought you might see the bright side,’ Kitty grinned.

‘But wait, why does she think my room’s safe from debauchery?’ Tom was offended when Kitty giggles.

‘Come on, she’s moving in this afternoon so we’d better get a move on!’

‘But Kitty, my room could easily have been just as infected by my debauchery as Miles’ has by his – surely it would be best if Rosalie just had the little bedroom because we know that’s safe.’

‘No, she wants your bedroom and I want her to feel happy here. She’s not been so happy this year so far and we want to make it nice for her here. Come on, we can get quite a bit done before you have to go up to uni later.’

‘Mhmph, I suppose it’s not too bad.’

‘Yeah, think of the good side, Miles will definitely be muted, also, he’s terrified of her so she might get him to shut up, you never know,’ she suggested.

He was immediately cheered up and even helped Kitty move her boxes into her wardrobe before leaving her to move the rest while he goes up to his seminar.

That evening, he moved all of his stuff into the attic bedroom and spent a good few minutes sneezing explosively at the cloud of dust he created when he put a textbook down on the desk. What with his room being set up and Rosalie moving in, the house was in chaos and Miles departed soon after coming home, probably to some other person’s bed, Tom thought sourly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hooray! It's the entrance of my very favourite Rosalie Berwick!  
> The story about students being able to get in their neighbours' house actually happened to a guy in one of my classes this year. He took great delight in telling it to the class so I thought I'd borrow it ;)


	8. December followed by exams is a cruel cruel thing

Rosalie settles down nicely into the house. She spends a lot of her time with the girls but she and Tom have always had an unlikely friendship based on talking about their various fandoms and also their general lack of sociability. It is quickly established that they are both massive game of thrones fans and they spend whole evenings debating who should be on the iron throne and who Jon Stark’s mother is.

December arrives with practice flurries of snow which excite everyone, even Thomas if he’s honest. It’s bitterly cold and they are all very grateful that their boiler appears to be more reliable than many of their classmates’. Stories of broken boilers, heating, and hot water not working are part and parcel of the university experience but they’ve managed to escape so far.

Flora insists on a Christmas dinner and even buys Marks and Spencer’s finest Christmas food to feed them. Tom guesses it can’t be any more awkward than their first supper as a household and actually it might be better because he and Miles are sort of speaking and they have Rosalie too.

The girls go mad with tinsel and odd bits of greenery and they even buy an advent calendar for each person in the house. Miles eats all of his immediately and then complains he feels sick. By the middle of December, only Tom still has the right number of chocolates in his and he checks it every day for thieves because he really doesn’t trust Miles to keep his fingers to himself where chocolate is concerned.

The dinner goes off quite well, they pull crackers and everyone looks absurd in their paper hats. Rosalie and Tom swap because she complains that her pink one will clash with her hair and his green one will go perfectly. He then has to endure Miles sniggering at him for the rest of the meal because apparently Tom in a baby pink paper crown is hilarious. Kitty says he looks very sweet and then tells him that his glower is ineffective while he wears the hat. Tom thinks Miles may choke on his wine at that.

There is one slightly sticky moment when Tom and Miles are trapped artfully in the kitchen doorway by the girls and then Rosalie coughs meaningfully and says the fateful word ‘mistletoe’.

Tom and Miles look up fearfully and sure enough, there above them is a weedy branch of what could be mistletoe. He wonders when they set that one up. Miles shrugs and takes hold of Tom’s shoulders in a businesslike fashion. Tom shrugs in return and leans in. It’s clear that the girls won’t let them go until they’ve kissed and after all, they’ve done it before. Miles’ lips brush Tom’s gently and then are immediately gone. The girls let out a chorus of disappointment and it’s clear that they were expecting something a little more dramatic. Tom can feel the warm firm grasp of Miles’ hands on his shoulders for the rest of the evening and he swears he can still taste him when he licks brandy sauce off his lips while he’s finishing his pudding.

* * *

 

 

Tom was quite glad to be going home for the holidays. After that strangely pleasant kiss, he and Miles hadn’t really spoken although he’d thought about it once or twice. They’d wished each other a pleasant holiday when Tom had met Miles wheeling his suitcase out of the house. Tom had a strange feeling that Miles had been lingering, hoping to see him, but he was sure that was just his imagination.

Being at home was great. His mum cooked him food, his sister teased him, he saw some old friends, he even did some work. But he missed their house, the strange mix of people, talking to Kitty about the boy she fancied in her tutor group, talking to Rosalie about anything they felt like, ignoring Flora and trying to ignore Miles. _Miles_. How stupid was it to miss someone he really didn’t like? Surely he should be glad to be away from him?

He spoke to Kitty a few times on the phone and he and Rosalie messaged back and forth, mainly about the Christmas episode of Dr Who and about the box sets that she was going to bring back in January thanks to an excellent present harvest. His mouse hovered over Miles’ name occasionally but what could he say that wouldn’t sound incredibly strange. They didn’t talk normally so just messaging him for no reason would be very odd. He couldn’t do it, no matter how much he wanted to at times.

 

When he got back to the house he was so happy to see Miles he almost hugged him. Miles could clearly see that intention in his eyes but he didn’t look horrified, just slightly surprised. Tom managed to stop himself but only just. There was a little bubble of tension in his throat, they really needed to talk about whatever was going on between them. But all such talks had to be put off until the exams were over. The house descended into a mad atmosphere of studying, constant cups of tea and little else. Even Miles worked which frankly astounded Tom.

They ran into each other occasionally in the kitchen and exchanged nods and checked that they were not going completely mad. Miles ate standing up, pouring over his notes, scratching his nose with the end of his pen and then swearing when he gets ink on his face. Tom couldn't help laughing at him and then Miles swore at him instead.

Tom had his last exam the day after Miles and he had braced himself to be woken in the middle of the night by a drunken Miles returning with an overnight guest. Instead he was surprised when Miles was in the kitchen late that evening and even offered to make him a cup of tea. He went for a run as usual in the morning and when he arrived back at the house he met Miles having breakfast, which was incredibly unusual. When he commented, Miles muttered something about trying to be considerate and wished him luck with his exam. It meant he spends most of the walk to the exam venue wondering what on earth had happened to Miles to make him so pleasant and considerate and, even more importantly pleasant and awake before Tom had to leave for his exam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know about this chapter? I'll just leave it here I guess~


	9. Bonding

That weekend, after all exams are over, they go out as a household. They start at the pub and then the girls announce that they’re going on to a club.

‘We didn’t get all dressed up for nothing, let’s go to that nice new place in the centre of town,’ Flora suggests.

Kitty and Rosalie nod in agreement but Tom is shaking his head and then as he turns toward Miles, he sees with surprise that Miles is too.

‘I’ll just stay here I think,’ he says and Tom nods again.

‘I’m not interested either, I’ll keep you company if you want?’ he offers.

The girls look at each other with raised eyebrows as if they’re expecting someone to declare that it’s a joke. Neither Tom nor Miles say anything more though and so they are left, with many curious glances.

‘You know they’re going to spend ages speculating and dissecting this don’t you,’ Miles says with a laugh.

‘Yeah, it’s ridiculous how much meaning they put into every single little thing,’ Tom replies.

‘It’s sort of sweet that they care though,’ Miles adds. ‘But just occasionally very annoying. Do you want another pint?’

‘Sure. Here, I’ll come with you.’

They get up and head toward the bar for refills and Tom realises that he’s never been to the pub with Miles, he normally just goes with Kitty. It’s nice having a warm male body next to him leaning on the bar, it’s also nice having someone with him getting the drinks. Kitty seems to expect him to get her drink as well as his own and quite often he has to juggle some snacks too. Miles slips his card to the bartender and tells him to open a tab, deaf to Tom’s protests.

‘I don’t want to have to worry about it later,’ Miles says, ‘it’s just easier. You should be thanking me, not being annoyed.’

‘Thanks,’ Tom mutters.

‘It’s fine. We can split the money later if you want or you can just pay another time.’

Tom thinks his ears are deceiving him, he could have sworn that Miles had just suggested that they go to the pub together again. It wasn’t something he’d ever expected to hear coming from Miles. Then again, they were here alone and getting on well. It was nice.

They don’t talk about anything in particular, at first their conversation centres around Flora and her many boyfriends and then they talk a little about their housemates and their idiosyncrasies. They discover they both love listening to Rosalie practising her cello although Miles isn’t that keen on her early morning practice schedule. Miles tells silly stories about first year, neatly avoiding any mention of meeting Tom, and they just relax. Tom is surprised at how easy it is to get on with Miles when they’re not needling at each other. It’s around about the third pint that things get a little bit more personal.

‘I didn’t have a great time in first year you know,’ Miles says matter of factly. ‘I was miserable, lonely, grumpy, I hated living in halls-‘

‘Didn’t we all,’ Tom interrupts.’

‘Yeah, but I think I found it harder than most people which seems silly because I went to boarding school for god’s sake, I should have been used to that kind of housing but it was horrible.’

Tom files away the information that Miles had gone to boarding school for a later date, it was something he’d always suspected but never had confirmed.

‘But you enjoyed the social things didn’t you?’ Tom prompts, holding his breath when he realises that he could be referring to their ill-fated liasons.

‘I guess. I mean I had a lot of friends but then it turned out that they were really just drinking companions. There was no-one I could talk to about anything vaguely serious.’

‘What about Flora? Or even Kitty?’

‘Flora’s fine but I’m sure you’ve noticed that she’s so relentlessly positive that it’s quite hard to talk seriously with her.’

Tom nods in agreement.

‘And Kitty wasn’t really my friend then, I mean we got on really well but I never saw her in daylight to be honest!’

They laugh and Tom wonders if that’s the end of Miles’ confession time. But it seems it’s not.

‘I failed my January exams and I nearly failed my June ones you know. I had to do September retakes.’ Miles looks pensively into his beer as if it holds the secrets of the universe. ‘I mean, I did absolutely fine in the retakes so it was okay in the end but I did have to do a lot of catch up work over the summer. It wasn’t ideal. I nearly didn’t come back actually.’

‘What made you come back then?’ Tom is fascinated, he’d never realised that Miles was anything other than ridiculously talented. The idea that he’d nearly failed and dropped out was incredible.

‘My dad. He sat me down and told me that I was an idiot and I’d better bloody try and do well because it was stupid to drop out just because I felt like it. That at least pushed me to do some revision and then I realised that it wasn’t actually that hard once I did some work.’ He grins ruefully and finally looks up from his beer. He looks so young and open.

‘I was miserable too,’ Tom says without thinking. ‘For most of first year I just shut myself in my room and hid from the world.’

‘But you’re happier now aren’t you?’ Miles seems endearingly concerned when he asks this question.

‘Yeah, so much better. I mean, I’m so glad I came back because at one point I was really considering giving up. But I wanted it to be better and it was, it is.’ He smiles shyly and sips his beer.

‘I don’t think anyone’s really happy in first year,’ Miles muses, ‘there are different levels of unhappy, of course, but it’s one great bit upheaval, everyone’s rushing around trying to find friends and do well and keep up with work and look after themselves.’ He sighs and rubs his hand through his hair, ‘god, they kept telling us that university was the best time of your life, and we were so convinced it had to be true.’

Tom nods, ‘it’s so much harder to be told that something should be the best time of your life when you’re really not enjoying it isn’t it!’

They laugh.

‘Oh, and don’t get me started on the people who said I was bound to meet a nice girl here,’ Tom says, still laughing.

Miles pauses in the act of lifting his beer to his mouth, ‘are you not out at home?’

‘No, I’m not,’ he sighs, ‘actually that was the only thing I really liked when I first got here, the feeling that I could be myself without the constraints of my family. I mean, my mum knows that I’m gay though I’ve never really talked about it with her. I think she thinks I just need to find the right girl. And the rest of my family haven’t got a clue. So yeah, here I can just be me and it’s nice.’

‘I can see that would be nice,’ Miles says. ‘I sort of get that too. My family don’t understand me being bisexual, they just think I should make up my mind either way. They don’t mind the gay bit, it’s me swapping and having boyfriends and girlfriends that annoys them.’

‘It’s crap. It just means you like people rather than a particular gender.’

‘Exactly. But only my sister gets it and even she says some stupid stuff sometimes.’

‘Like what?’

‘Oh, just that I’m lucky I get to pick which I want to be with. Or that I’m greedy. Urgh. It makes me so mad because if I get angry with her then she just says she’s my sister and she’s allowed to tease me which just isn’t true. She once asked me if I had a preference…’

‘And do you?’ Tom asks curiously.

‘No.’ Miles says shortly, ‘like you said, it’s people not gender. Some bisexuals do have a preference but it’s not necessary to ask them.’

‘Sorry,’ Tom offers.

‘It’s ok. I don’t mind you asking so much. I know that you understand most of what I’m experiencing, especially if you’re not out at home.’

Tom thinks it’s weird that he feels so comfortable opening up to Miles like this. In some ways though, it’s not weird at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so this is one of my very favourite chapters of this story so I hope you liked it :)


	10. More Bonding

Walking back from the pub, several drinks under their belt, arms brushing gently as they walk not quite in a straight line, Tom feels happy. When they reach the house they fumble with the keys, laughing as Miles takes them from Tom, having to try several times before he actually gets the key in the door. They stumble into the house and lean on the wall, gasping from laughing though neither is that sure what’s quite so funny.

‘I’m happy,’ Tom says suddenly.

Miles lets out a bark of laughter but then sobers. He’s noticed that Tom is uncharacteristically able to talk about his feelings when drunk and the way Tom says he’s happy, with a tone of surprise, means that perhaps he hasn’t felt happy like this for a while.

‘I’m glad. But you must be quite drunk if you’re telling me this, if you think I’m even worth talking to frankly.’

‘Not true,’ Tom insists with the childish insistence that comes with being drunk.

‘Yes true. But I am glad you’re happy-‘

‘I like you, you’re very handsome you know.’

‘You seem to have developed a candour that will probably worry you in the morning. I think you should probably go to bed Tom. Come on.’

He escorts Tom to the stairs and then because Tom is looking appealingly at him and dammit, he just told him he was handsome, he kisses Tom on the cheek. He most likely won’t remember it anyway so Miles can just remember it for him, a warm, slightly unshaven cheek against his lips and a waft of the scent that is indescribably Tom, the scent that makes Miles enjoy using the bathroom after he has showered in the morning because everything smells faintly right and he tries not to think about what that means.

Tom grins and stumbles happily up the stairs and Miles goes into the kitchen. He has a vague plan for food but just ends up grabbing a large glass of water and sitting at the kitchen table listening to Tom mumble as he wanders back and forth to the bathroom. There are several loud thumps and curses as well which makes Miles picture Tom rebounding off doorways and thwacking his elbows. He’s not the most graceful person either but when drunk, Tom doesn’t only seem to lose control of his mouth, but his limbs as well. Miles sits and sips at his water and wonders why everything about Tom seems so magical in that moment.

 

Miles eventually heads upstairs and goes to bed. There is silence from Tom’s room and just as Miles is finding the right angle for his pillow, he hears the girls coming home and evidently trying to be quiet. Their inebriated giggles and chatter waft up the stairs toward him and lull him to sleep. The house feels happy and content around him.

Miles potters down to the kitchen the next morning feeling unexpectedly cheerful, and thanks to the water he’d drunk before going to bed, not too hungover. Flora’s already down, looking wide awake and he nods at her in greeting, not really feeling like initiating conversation quite yet.

‘Soo, what happened then?’ Flora asks as Miles searches for a clean mug. Damn, she’d clearly not got his non-verbal message.

‘What happened when?’

‘When we left silly. What did you and our lovely Tom get up to without us?’ She is leaning across the kitchen counter and she clearly thinks she’s going to get some gossip. She’s going to be disappointed. Even if anything had happened, _which it clearly hadn’t_ , he wouldn’t tell her.

‘Nothing happened Floz, stop trying to dig for gossip where there is none.’

She pouts, as if that’s ever had any effect on him, and looks appealingly up through her lashes at him. Of course it doesn’t work. Flora trying to flirt with him is like his sister trying to flirt with him. It makes him feel vaguely uncomfortable at the best of times. And he’s not even really in the flirting mood at the moment anyway. Not just for entertainment purposes at least.

‘Sorry Flora, even your magnificent charms aren’t going to work on me,’ he says as he walks out, clutching a mug of tea. He bumps into Tom in the hallway looking considerably worse than Miles himself.

‘Ooh!’ squeals Flora and they both wince. ‘Something definitely happened, Tom you look dreadful.’

‘Thanks,’ he mumbles, dropping into a kitchen chair. Miles follows him back into the room and begins making tea without thinking. Flora gives him a curious look. Damn, he can’t pretend he’s making it for himself and then make one for Tom because he’s already made a cup for himself. Oh well.

‘Soo, what happened to you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this hungover,’ Flora comments.

‘I don’t really know honestly. I remember walking back with Miles and then going to bed. I- er – yeah, it’s a bit blurry.’

Tom looks up at Miles as he says those last words and Miles wonders if he remembers. Or if he thinks it was a dream. He sort of likes the fact that Tom might think he dreamt it. It’s stupid, only a kiss on the cheek but Miles wants Tom to remember it somehow, even if he can’t remind him of it.

 

Tom sips his tea, confused about how Miles knew to add just the right amount of skimmed milk, and still more confused about his memories from the previous night. He remembers talking to Miles, them getting on really well and then coming back to the house, the sharp winter air waking him up a little and then entering the house and lots of laughter and him maybe not being quite as aware of what he was saying. Miles sent him to bed, he knows that but he remembers something else too, a brush of warm lips on his cheek sending hot darts of happiness through his very being. His dreams were full of those happy feelings and soft brushes of lips taunted him, travelling across his body, he was never able to catch the face of the kisser. And now he doesn’t know if it really happened, did Miles kiss him, or was he remembering the feel of previous kisses, of the mistletoe kiss that haunted him or the kisses even before that. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d dreamt about Miles and he felt sure it also wouldn’t be the last. He just hated not being sure if his own mind was playing tricks on him and there was no way he could ask Miles. No way at all. The temporary intimacy of drunken confessions had been very nice the previous night but this morning it had practically disappeared, there was a ghost of it in the way Miles had made him tea without even asking but nothing more.


	11. Cupid's Holiday

‘It’s Valentine’s Day soon,’ Flora grins, coming into the kitchen in absurdly patterned pyjamas on a Sunday morning.

He grunts. It’s too early to deal with Flora’s incessant happiness. He’s been on a run but he’s still not actually awake. That won’t happen until he’s had a long hot shower and perhaps some bacon.

‘Have you got your eye on anyone?’ she asks, not seeming to have got the memo that he’s not interested in making conversation.

‘Valentine’s day is a stupidly commercialised waste of time based on spending money to try and prove your love,’ Rosalie comments as she walks in. ‘It’s pointless and I’m planning on boycotting it. Can I count on your support Tom?’

‘Yep. I’ve never got the point of it honestly.’

‘But it’s romantic. I love it!’ Flora exclaims.

‘That’s because you, unlike us, thrive on attention,’ Rosalie says dryly. ‘It’s perfect because you love being told you’re loved and loads of people love you. On the other hand, I am not particularly interested and no-one’s interested in me. That being said, are you interested in anyone Tom?’

He glares at her. He was hoping to escape with no more discussion of his love life but apparently Rosalie had other plans.

‘No,’ he says shortly, grabbing the second half of his piece of toast and making a run for it.

 

Flora comes home from her lectures on Valentine’s day with an armful of cards and chocolates. She dumps it all on the coffee table and begins to sort through it. Tom watches from his armchair in fascination. She puts all the cards and notes in one pile and one box of chocolates which look like the most expensive ones go with them. The rest she spreads across the table and then looks at him enquiringly.

‘Do you want to have first pick?’

‘What?’

‘Well, the others aren’t here yet so you can have first pick of the goodies if you want,’ she smiles, ‘I’m never going to be able to eat all of this and wasn’t Rose planning an anti-valentines film night? Surely film night is better with chocolate?’

He eyes the table. There is a lot of chocolate there. And just buried under a bag of very pink marshmallows, he can see the logo of a huge snickers bar – his favourite. As he is investigating a little more closely, Miles arrives in the doorway and exclaims in delight.

‘Is this for us? Flora you’re an angel!’

‘I’m not letting you have any until I’ve seen your bounty my friend,’ she says sternly. ‘And for that matter, Tom, what did you get?’

He blushes and mutters, ‘nothing.’

‘You liar!’ Miles exclaims, ‘you definitely got something!’

‘Just a few notes,’ he says, hoping that the floor will give way beneath him before Miles can ask-

‘Show us, otherwise I’ll take away your chocolate privileges,’ Flora asks instead of Miles but that’s almost worse.

‘I threw them away,’ he says.

‘You threw them away?’ Miles says incredulously, ‘I hope at least you check that no-one saw you, especially the people who gave them to you!’

‘I’m not an idiot Miles,’ he says grumpily. ‘Of course I checked. They were just notes, nothing really.’

‘But what did they say?’ Flora prompts.

‘One was a dirty limerick that I didn’t finish reading because I was in the middle of a lecture when it was passed to me. Another was addressed to ‘the tall dark scotsman’ so I didn’t open it. And one of them detailed how our first date would go if I rang her number.’ He shudders, ‘I didn’t get to the end of that one either.’

Miles roars with laughter. ‘That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day, do they not know you’re gay?’

‘It’s never really come up. Unlike you, I don’t flaunt my sexuality to the whole world.’

Miles doesn’t take that as the insult it’s possibly meant to be, and that’s probably a good thing for the atmosphere of the house.

 

Once Flora has left on her date (she claims it’s not Valentine’s Day without being taken out to dinner), the others settle down to watch Rosalie’s film choices with few complaints, mostly because they’re eating all the sweets Flora has left for them. Miles claims several bags of haribos while Kitty nibbles on a large bar of toblerone. Rosalie commandeers the marshmallows and chocolate buttons and Tom occasionally nicks some from her, having eaten all his snickers bar already.

Flora reappears at some point during the third film when they’re all in chocolate induced comas and curls up next to Miles on the sofa. Tom watches as Miles droops further and further towards her until he falls asleep on her lap, looking angelic in the dim lighting. Flora absently strokes her hand through his hair and nibbles on the left over haribos. Tom falls asleep soon afterwards and is woken by Rosalie turning off the TV and leaving the room. His head hurts and his neck is incredibly stiff from the awkward angle he’s been sleeping at. Rosalie laughs softly at him as he blinks at her and disappears up the stairs and after a few minutes to gather his remaining thoughts, he follows her because he knows that his bed has got to be more comfortable than being curled up in an armchair. He falls asleep as soon as he lies down and when he wakes at his usual early hour to go on his run, he still has his shoes on. As he clatters down the stairs, he pauses at the sitting room door and smiles at the chaos within. Kitty has draped herself over an armchair and Flora is upright in the corner of the sofa, hand still on Miles’ head. Miles, who still looks incredibly angelic in spite of the oddly coloured saliva trailing from the corner of his mouth onto Flora’s pyjamas. Tom hopes that the odd saliva colour is from the haribos and not because Miles has been poisoned or something. Then, because he’s a nice person, he doesn’t slam the front door going out.


	12. Unlikely Bedmates

Miles pokes his head around Tom’s door at just after midnight. Tom had heard someone creeping up the stairs but had hoped that they would go away again when they saw his light off. However, he should have known that wouldn’t deter Miles.

‘Tom?’ hisses Miles.

‘Mmmph?’ he grunts, still mostly asleep.

‘Can I come and sleep with you?’

That wakes him up. ‘What!?’

‘Just to sleep,’ wheedles Miles, ‘Rosalie’s doing late night practice for her concert tomorrow and I have a test and I sleep better next to you anyway.’

Tom wonders where he got that idea from but it’s too late and he’s too tired to start any kind of discussion with Miles. ‘Mmph. Fine. You’d better not kick though.’

Miles crawls in, tucking himself right next to Tom and uttering a contented sigh as he arranges the quilt to his satisfaction.

Tom is just drifting off again when Miles murmurs, ‘Tom?’

‘Mmph?’

‘Thanks.’

‘Mmph.’

 

When Tom wakes in the morning, he is very confused that he appears to have more than the usual number of limbs. This is fortunately explained by the warm body plastered against his back. At some point in the night, Miles appears to have decided that Tom is his personal teddy bear and is currently uttering sounds of protest as Tom tries to extract himself.

‘Sorry Miles,’ he hisses, ‘some of us have things to do. Also you should probably go back to your own room.’

Miles rolls and picks Tom’s pillow as a substitute for Tom himself. Tom sighs and gets ready for his run. He gets the feeling Miles won’t wake any time soon.

When he comes back, he is sort of disappointed that Miles has left his room. He hopes no-one noticed him leaving. The girls would have a field day with that little titbit of gossip.

 

* * *

‘So you’ll never guess what I saw this morning,’ Kitty says, leaning in conspiratorially.

Rosalie echoes her movement, ‘what?’

‘Miles coming down Tom’s stairs. After Tom had left for his run. He looked all ruffled like he’d just woken up. I think he slept up there.’

‘With Tom?’

‘Yeah, I mean they’ve definitely been getting closer.’

‘But why last night?’ Rosalie muses, ‘what was different?’

Kitty’s face lights up, ‘I’ve got an idea. You know how you were practising late last night? Well do you think that was what drove Miles up to Tom’s room? He was taking refuge, you know how he likes to sleep.’

‘Ooh,’ hums Rosalie, a devious look on her face, ‘I mean, I just might be practicing tonight at around the same time. And, just maybe, I might get into that routine. It was actually very productive practicing at that time so unless anyone objects-‘

Kitty grins. ‘Flora won’t even notice, she’s never in bed before 2am most nights. And I don’t mind, especially if it helps those two idiots to realise they belong together.’

‘Excellent, it’s a plan.’

 

Rosalie starts playing at nearly midnight that night. Tom rolls his eyes on his way up the stairs and it happy that the ceiling muffles the sound quite a bit. Rosalie’s playing is generally quite soothing when it’s muted. He quite likes hearing her from a distance but he does have a sudden sympathetic thought for Miles in the room right next to her.

He turns off his light and falls asleep almost immediately but is woken some time later by someone in his room.

‘Shh Tom, it’s just me.’

Miles lifts the duvet and slips in beside him and the rush of cold air from him disturbing Tom’s cocoon is then replaced with his body heat. Tom mumbles something and turns over again. Miles sighs in relief and snuggles up. He’d been expecting more protests and if he’s honest, he’s only taking refuge from Rosalie’s playing because it’s so tempting to come upstairs and curl up with Tom. Rosalie stops playing soon after he’s got comfortable and he considers going back to his own bed but he’s warm and Tom has relaxed against him and is letting out little whuffling breaths and he wants to stay so he does.

 

The next night Rosalie practices in the day, feeling that she shouldn’t do it all the time. After all, maybe Tom and Miles have decided to sleep together with no influence from her. But as she and Kitty listen for the creak of Tom’s staircase after midnight, they are disappointed. When Rosalie slips out of Kitty’s room where they had been waiting with baited breath, she sees that Miles’ light is off and she can hear him shuffling around trying to get comfortable in bed. She supposes she can practice at midnight the next night. It’s a good thing she doesn’t have any early morning lectures and she quite likes playing so late.

 

Rosalie starts playing at half eleven and almost as soon as she starts tuning, she hears Miles’ door creak open and him sneak across the landing towards Tom’s stairs. She smiles to herself and then concentrates on making her bows beautifully even on both strokes, playing softly and then crescendo-ing with great gusto as she warms up.

‘Miles!’ Tom yelps, swivelling his chair around as he hears his door open. With his attention taken from his work, he can suddenly hear the cello from below. Miles shuts the door and the sound almost disappears again.

‘Miles, we’ve got to talk about this,’ Tom sighs when it becomes apparent that Miles isn’t going to say anything.

Miles nods and looks towards the bed questioningly.

‘Alright, you can sleep here but we’re going to talk before we sleep,’ Tom says, powerless against Miles’ puppy eyes.

As he brushes his teeth, mentally singing along with Rosalie’s Bach prelude, he wonders when Miles’ puppy eyes became a thing for him, something he couldn’t resist.

Up in his room, Miles has curled up under the duvet and is examining the books on Tom’s bedside table with interest. Tom joins him and they sit up against the headboard in awkward reflection of each other. Eventually Miles breaks the silence.

‘Is this weird?’

‘Yep,’ Tom answers immediately. ‘What are you doing here Miles?’

‘Umm well I was hoping I could sleep here, Rosalie’s practicing again.’

‘Yeah I know that’s your reason, but what’s the actual reason?’

‘I, er, like sleeping next to you,’ Miles gabbles, blushing a bit.

Tom grins inwardly, ‘what if I don’t like you invading my space all the time?’

‘Then I’ll go,’ Miles says, ‘I don’t want to get in your way, I only came up here because you didn’t seem to mind and then your bed just seemed so much nicer than mine, though I think that might partially be because your sheets are definitely cleaner than mine and they smell like you and you’re nice to sleep next to and I’m gabbling so please stop me-‘

‘Okay,’ Tom soothes, ‘it’s okay, you don’t have to tell me everything, though really the clean sheet thing only means you need to use the washing machine more often.’

‘But it’s such a pain,’ Miles whines, relieved that Tom appears to want to ignore most of what he has just gabbled.

‘Shh Miles, I want to go to sleep. You can stay here and be quiet or you can go and whine somewhere else.’

Miles shuts up and slides down next to Tom, curling up and then letting out an involuntary sound of contentment when Tom cuddles up behind him and tucks his forehead into the back of Miles’ neck. Tom shakes with laughter for a moment and Miles swears at him. They fall asleep like that, and when Tom wakes with the early morning light filtering in, he is surprised that neither of them has really moved, they are just plastered closer together as if one or both of them was determined to fuse into the other.

 

After that night it becomes routine. Tom misses Miles when he doesn’t sneak up the stairs to his room. Every other evening, Rosalie tunes up at half 11 and Flora starts staying over at her boyfriend’s house every other night. Kitty and Rosalie are still amazed that Tom and Miles haven’t mentioned it. At their progress meetings over evening hot chocolate they debate if the boys have realised everyone knows they’re up to something or if they’re hoping everyone is as clueless as they are. The evening practice even helps Rosalie in her studies because she gets selected to play in a recital for the most improved players over the term. So of course, she keeps on practicing and Miles keeps on sneaking up Tom’s stairs until Tom gets so used to it that he barely notices his door opening and Miles making himself comfortable on his bed every other night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've a feeling that the sharing beds trope was how this whole thing started? Also I'm trying to stick to a chapter every other day now which means that this should be all posted within two weeks yay!


	13. Conversations and unexpected situations

Rosalie finds him in the kitchen making pasta.

‘Tom, do you think you could do me a favour?’

‘Yeah?’ he says absently, stirring the boiling water gently to stop the pasta stinking to the bottom of the pan.

‘It’s just, I’ve been practicing a lot and my back’s got really tense and hot showers only do so much. Could you maybe give me a massage?’

He stops stirring and puts the lid halfway on before turning to consider her.

‘Are you sure you want me to give you a massage?’

‘Well Miles keeps going on about how good you are with your hands,’ she returns, feeling a little mean when he blanches.

‘He what?’

She takes pity on him. ‘Don’t be silly, Miles still thinks that no-one knows you’re together now. And it’s true, no-one except me knows.’

‘Uh, Rosalie, I don’t know what you’re thinking exactly but… we’re not together.’

She raises her eyebrow at him. ‘Of course you’re not. And as long as you give me a back massage, I won’t tell anyone that you are together.’

She sits down on a kitchen chair and presents her back to him. Sighing, he comes towards her and begins to rub down her back, searching for the tension spots in her muscles. He strokes in circles across her shoulders and is just getting into it when Miles comes crashing in and the pasta boils over. In the chaos of sorting out the spilled water and discovering that the pasta is cooked, Rosalie somehow disappears, he thinks he remembers her shouting thanks and him yelling acknowledgment back as he strained the pasta.

He settles at the table and begins to eat his pasta and pesto, watching Miles as he finds his cereal and pours a bowl.

‘You’re eating cereal for supper?’ he queries.

‘It’s a student tradition!’ Miles exclaims, ‘if you’ve never done it then I pity you Thomas Gillan. More importantly, what were you doing to Rosalie before I came in?’

‘I was giving her a massage. She has sore shoulders due to all that cello practice she’s been doing.’

Miles looks at him consideringly. ‘I have sore shoulders too. Your bed is really lumpy. Can I have a massage?’

‘Maybe.’

It’s not until later, when Miles has snuck into his room and they have settled in their usual fashion, Miles curled up right next to Tom who likes to sleep flat on his back, that Tom remembers about the massage.

‘So,’ he says, trying to sound casual, ‘do you still want that massage?’

Miles looks up at him with sleepy eyes. ‘Are you offering?’

‘Yeah.’

Miles rolls over onto his front and Tom looks at the expanse of white back laid out for him. Miles’ skin isn’t as pale as Tom’s but it still glows in the dim light of his room. He isn’t sure where to start really. Without thinking, his hands start stroking down Miles’ back. He decides there’s no way he can do this from beside Miles and before he can talk himself out of it, he swings a leg over Miles and settles, sitting on his lower back. Miles lets out a surprised sound but settles as Tom continues stroking down his spine. The stroking changes into circular motions along Miles’ shoulders and down his ribcage and Miles keeps letting out happy whimpers and little yelps when Tom hits a particularly sensitive spot. Gradually, Tom gentles the pressure and goes back to just stroking down Miles’ back again, fascinated by the goosebumps that ripple under his fingertips. Eventually Miles wriggles under him and he gets up. Miles rolls onto his side and before Tom can go far, he grabs his forearm and pulls it across him. Tom is confused, but after a few tugs he gets it. Miles wants to spoon. He wants to cuddle. They’ve done this before but after what’s just happened, it feels far more intimate. Miles doesn’t let go until Tom has curled up behind him, knees tucked behind Miles’ and arm slung across his waist. Miles lets out a sleepy sigh and links their hands together. He drifts off, leaving Tom wide awake and wondering what had just happened.

 

Rosalie keeps on practicing every other night and soon, even before she has got out her bow, she hears Miles sneaking up Tom’s staircase. She wonders if one evening, if she doesn’t practice when she usually would, she’ll hear him coming back down or if Tom will let him stay. Surely by this point they’ve become so used to sleeping with each other that he’d just stay. Then one night she hears him go up and almost immediately come back down again, swearing loudly. Curious, she opens her door and peers out, finding him pacing the landing agitatedly.

‘You okay Miles?’

‘Yeah, yep, fine, great, so fine,’ he says, spitting the words out as if they too are incredibly rude.

‘You don’t sound particularly fine?’ she prompts.

‘Argh, it’s just, I mean, erm, I went up to er, borrow something from Tom and er, I… well let’s just say it was a bad moment.’

Visions flash across her mind and she settles on the most likely one.

‘Was he masturbating?’ she asks sympathetically.

‘Rosalie!’ he squawks, looking scandalised.

‘What? You should know by now that I’m very unbothered by that sort of thing. Does he know you saw?’

‘No,’ Miles answers shortly.

‘Well then it’s probably fine, just give him a little time or go up and _borrow the thing tomorrow_.’

He glares at her and she wonders if she put a little too much emphasis on borrowing.

‘Great advice, thanks,’ he mutters before flouncing (there is no other way to describe it) into his room.

She giggles and then jumps when Kitty puts her head out of her bedroom door.

‘Did I just hear that correctly?’ she asks, grinning widely.

‘Yep.’

‘Excellent.’

 

Miles can’t look Tom in the face the next morning. All he can see is Tom, laid out on his bed, right hand stroking across his torso while the left touches his cock in a practiced motion. Miles had only caught a glimpse but it had been enough to brand Tom’s pleasure filled face in his memory. When he’d gone back to his room, even after encountering Rosalie, he’d still been wound up, his pulse thrumming, just on the edge of aroused and he’d been unable to muster the willpower to go and have a cold shower. He’d just about managed to avoid thinking of Tom but it had been hard. Now he’d seen Tom like that, memories of their encounters in first year had risen to the surface and he really wanted to experience it again.


	14. Communication helps

One weekend in March, the girls all disappear, Flora to her boyfriend’s house and Kitty and Rosalie go home. Tom and Miles smirk at each other when they first discover this and immediately each of them begins thinking of what they can do with the house to themselves. However, it gets to Friday night and both of them are knackered and in the end they watch a film. Miles wants to watch Clueless because he claims it’s a classic. Tom honestly doesn’t care so they end up watching Cher trick her way through high school. Tom watches, bemused and growing dopier and Miles spends probably more time watching Tom fall asleep than watching the film but that’s fine because he’s seen Clueless more times than he can count and watching Tom fall asleep is far more interesting.

‘It’s creepy when you do that,’ Tom murmurs with his eyes closed and head tilted back.

‘Do what?’ replies Miles, gaze firmly focussed on the screen.

‘Stare at me while I sleep. It’s creepy.’

Tom’s voice is cracking and his words are very indistinct and Miles thinks it’s the cutest thing he’s ever heard. He leans over and pulls Tom towards him, ignoring the sounds of protest. Tom works out what is happening and stops grumbling when he is settled across Miles’ chest, heavy and comforting. He begins to snuffle soon afterwards and Miles re-evaluates his scale of the cutest noises he’s ever heard.

‘You’re adorable,’ he mutters into Tom’s hair.

‘M’not,’ comes the reply.

Miles strokes his hand down Tom’s back and grins at the happy whine Tom makes.

‘Oh, you most definitely are.’

After the film, Miles sits and enjoys the feeling of Tom slumped in a heavy warm length alongside him before finally realising that he could be enjoying it and a nice comfortable bed instead of the slightly lumpy sofa. He nudges Tom to try and wake him.

‘Come on sleepy, let’s go upstairs,’ he cajoles, ignoring Tom’s disgruntled face. ‘You’ll be much more comfy in bed. And it’s warm there too.’

Slowly he heaves Tom to his feet and they make their way upstairs, Tom stumbling and still mostly asleep. He deposits Tom on his bed and starts to make his way to the door, intending to go and get his pyjamas and maybe clean his teeth.

‘Come back,’ Tom says, sounding grumpy.

‘I will,’ replies Miles, trying not to laugh as Tom pushes his bottom lip out to emphasise his grumpiness.

‘No, come back right now,’ Tom insists, holding out his arms and pouting even more.

Miles sighs, ‘I need to get my pyjamas.’

‘No, you can borrow a shirt, I don’t care, come back.’

Miles takes his hand off the doorknob and sighs again. ‘Fine, but don’t complain tomorrow.’

He strips his shirt and jeans as he walks towards the bed and then moves to help Tom take his own clothes off. When they’re arranged to Tom’s satisfaction, duvet tucked around them and Miles as the big spoon, Tom utters a contented sigh and drifts off to sleep, leaving Miles to marvel at how much he is wrapped around Tom’s little finger.

* * *

‘So I’ve been thinking,’ Miles says, head in Tom’s lap, sprawled out across the bed on Sunday morning.

‘Hmm?’ Tom says absently, engrossed in the textbook he’s reading.

‘Yep. You might want to listen for a moment,’ Miles taps Tom’s thigh to make sure he actually is listening and not just making agreeable noises.

‘What?’

‘I think we should do this.’ Miles says, waving his arms expressively and nearly thwacking Tom’s face.

‘Do what?’ asks Tom, neatly avoiding Miles’ arms.

‘This, us, whatever we’ve been doing but like… more.’

‘Do you mean officially?’ Tom ventures.

‘Yeah, I mean, I don’t want to make a big thing of it but at the same time, I want to kiss you, and I haven’t been kissing anyone else or really wanting to. So we should maybe be a thing.’

‘Like boyfriends?’

Miles makes a face, ‘I hate that word. Like that but without saying that.’

‘Okay,’ Tom says happily. ‘What about the girls?’

‘Let’s keep it quiet for now, you know what they’re like, they’ll coo over us and say they knew something was up-‘

‘To be fair, I think Rosalie does know something’s up,’ Tom interjects.

‘Yeah but she doesn’t crow like Kitty and Flora. So shall we?’

‘Okay.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cute enough for you?


	15. The curse of overly observant housemates

‘You haven’t complained about Miles recently,’ Kitty says with an interrogatory gleam in her eyes.

‘Er, no, we’re mostly staying out of each other’s way to be honest,’ Tom says quickly, not really wanting to start talking about it.

‘Hmm,’ she says, seeming disappointed.

 

* * *

 

‘Kitty was asking about us earlier,’ Tom says to Miles later.

‘What did you say?’ asks Miles lazily, lounging on Tom’s bed in a way that makes him want to drop all of his chemistry notes and go and do some practical work immediately.

‘I just said that we were staying out of each other’s way,’ he shrugs.

‘Did she accept it?’

‘She seemed disappointed. I think they were hoping their master plan would have worked by now.’

‘Well it did, didn’t it,’ chuckles Miles, ‘we just haven’t told them.’

‘I think Rosalie might have guessed though, I mean, she gave us a very sharp look when she came into the kitchen the other day.’

‘Oh yeah and I’d been whispering dirty things to you.’

‘Yeah, it’s really unhelpful, we’re supposed to be hiding this, not displaying it to everyone.’

‘I can’t help the fact that you blush ridiculously if I so much as touch you.’

‘It’s not you touching me, it’s where you touch me!’ Tom exclaims.

‘I guess I’ll just have to try and keep my hands off you then,’ Miles grins, ‘it’ll be hard, I’ll need a lot of self-control and you know that’s not my strong point… maybe you should offer some rewards?’

‘Like what?’ Tom asks playfully.

‘Ooh, I’m sure you can think of something,’ Miles says as he leaves the room, casually patting Tom’s bum on the way. Tom yelps and tries to ignore Miles’ chuckles.

* * *

 

‘Isn’t that Tom’s shirt?’ Kitty says.

Tom and Miles look up from where they are engrossed in watching Benedict Cumberbatch sexily make deductions and see Kitty staring at them. Miles crosses his arms defensively over the t-shirt he is wearing.

‘No, it’s not Tom’s shirt.’

‘But Tom has one exactly like it. I remember because he was wearing it when we went to our first chemistry bar crawl and at least ten other guys were wearing it too. Periodic table shirts are kind of a predictable thing for chemistry students to wear.’

‘Well it’s my shirt. My err sister sent it to me as a joke.’

‘It doesn’t fit you very well. In fact, I’d say it’d fit Tom much better,’ she says critically. ‘Maybe you should give it to him.’

‘I quite like it actually,’ Tom says, ‘if you don’t want it, I’d wear it, the one Kitty remembers has gone missing anyway.’

Miles glares at Tom who is clearly trying very hard not to laugh. So what if he likes wearing Tom’s t-shirts, they’re comfy and they smell nice.

‘Well I’m going to keep it,’ he announces. ‘If you like it so much, you should buy another one.’

 

When Miles comes into Tom’s room that evening he is carrying the t-shirt.

‘Here, you can have this back.’

‘Er, why?’

‘Well it is yours, in spite of what I said to Kitty.’

‘No, you can keep it,’ Tom says, ‘it looks good on you.’

‘It’s too big for me and I don’t even understand it.’

Tom steps towards Miles and wraps his arms around his waist.

‘I think it looks good on you,’ he says softly, ‘and I’ll explain it to you if you’d like.’

Miles tucks his head into Tom’s neck and hugs him back.

‘Then you should have one of mine.’

‘It’ll be too tight!’ Tom protests.

‘It’ll look good, show off those muscles you’ve got hiding away under all those layers,’ Miles says, patting Tom’s stomach fondly.

* * *

 

‘Miles, I’ve run out of t-shirts.’

‘Why are you telling me? I can’t do anything about it.’

‘It’s because you’ve bloody stolen all of them.’

‘I’m offended! I haven’t stolen all of them, just most of them.’

‘It’s beside the point, I haven’t got any more t-shirts and I bet you haven’t washed any of the ones you’ve worn either.’

Miles points to the pile of laundry building up in the corner that is threatening to avalanche any moment. As Tom stares at it, a sock tumbles down from the top to the bottom and rests in a sad heap on the carpet. He can see his favourite Dr Who shirt buried under a pair of jeans.

‘There’s no help for it, you’ll just have to wear one of mine.’

Miles opens his chest of drawers to display a huge stack of brightly coloured shirts. Tom grits his teeth.

‘You’ve been planning this,’ he accuses. ‘You’ve got all of those and you’ve been wearing mine. Just so you can force me to wear yours now.’

‘Not just because of that, I do quite like your shirts too,’ Miles protests.

‘If you wanted me to wear your shirts, you could just have asked,’ Tom says softly, crossing to examine the open drawer. ‘Can you give me something that’s a little toned down in colour at least?’ He eyes the fluorescent green monstrosity at the top of the pile in disgust.

Miles fishes a navy one from somewhere and Tom puts it on, struggling a little to fit his shoulders in and frowning at the slightly stretched jersey.

‘Yeah,’ Miles says, drawing out the word appreciatively. ‘I was right, you do look good in my clothes.’

‘Do I?’ Tom asks insecurely. He feels exposed, he wonders if maybe he should cover his nipples, they seem very keen on making their existence known.

‘Very good,’ Miles murmurs, moving closer, ‘maybe I should show you how much I like it?’

‘Maybe you should, it might help me feel more comfortable.’

‘Oh, it’ll definitely make you more relaxed,’ Miles smirks, ‘let me just…’

* * *

 

‘Nice shirt Tom,’ Flora says admiringly.

‘Thanks, it feels quite tight though.’

‘Exactly, who knew you had such a good shape hidden away,’ Flora chuckles. ‘I’m appreciating the view, honestly.’

Tom blushes.

‘Miles! Doesn’t Tom look good today?’ Flora hails Miles as he walks past the door. Miles has already expressed his appreciation of Tom’s new look in several ways earlier that morning and Tom blushes even more remembering.

‘Yeah,’ Miles says appraisingly, eyes travelling slowly across Tom’s torso, ‘it looks good, is it for anyone in particular?’

‘No, I just felt like a change.’

‘Well it’s good, maybe you should feel like that more often,’ Miles winks and turns to leave.

‘It’s good that you two are getting on so much better recently,’ Flora says obliviously.

‘Yeah, we’re not arguing so much,’ Tom agrees, thinking privately that it’s because they’ve got good at working out the tension in other ways.

* * *

 

Tom shifts uncomfortably in his seat. He is sure that everyone is staring at him, he can practically feel the eyes boring into the back of his neck. He wouldn’t feel like this if Miles hadn’t forced him into another too tight t-shirt. And if only the lecture theatre weren’t far too warm, he could have kept his jumper on. His lovely woolly jumper that Miles had declared made him look like a sexy teddy bear. Great, he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Miles all the time but that was surprisingly difficult to do.

At the end of the lecture he packed up his books and attempted to make a swift exit but his attempt was foiled by Elliot, the smarmy idiot who still hadn’t worked out that Kitty would never say yes to him.

‘Blimey Thomas, did you encounter a vampire?’

Yelland, probably the most annoying person Tom had ever met, sidled up beside them to back Elliot up.

‘Yeah Thomas, what have you been up to?’

Tom flushes even more and hurries to pull his jumper on, knowing that it will cover the marks that Elliot is commenting on. Bloody Miles liked to leave marks, he’d decided that as Tom’s celtic complexion bruised so easily, he might as well take advantage. He declared that Tom could leave marks too, that in fact he’d quite like it, but Tom hadn’t done so yet. He might be tempted if he could be sure it would have the same embarrassing effect on Miles as it did on him, but knowing Miles, he would enjoy any attention he garnered from it almost as much as the act itself.

He had hoped that putting his jumper on and examining the inside of his bag in great detail would have made Elliot and Yelland lost interest. It had at least worked on Yelland but Elliot had a knack for finding the things Tom really didn’t want to talk about and he’d been exerting it even more since Kitty had finally turned him down

Elliot was standing, eyebrow raised, waiting for Tom to answer.

‘Bugger off,’ he says, shouldering past without waiting for Elliot to get out of his way.

‘Such a charmer, you clearly didn’t use your manners to attract the vampire.’

Tom ignores him, he honestly can’t be bothered to make more of a scene.

When he gets home, he informs Miles curtly that all marks need to be underneath clothing, if indeed, he needs to indulge in such vampiric practices at all. Miles laughs but seems to realise there is an undercurrent of real annoyance in Tom’s voice and he does at least apologise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you want to know more about Yelland, I've got an off cut from the main story that I will post~


	16. Kilts are discussed

‘Tom, have you ever worn a kilt?’ asks Rosalie one morning.

‘Yeah, why?’ he answers, pouring the milk over his cereal and wondering if it’s about to go off or if his cereal will taste okay.

‘More importantly, what did you wear underneath?’ leers Miles.

They ignore him and he continues to wiggle his eyebrows suggestively as he pours his cereal.

‘I wore one for most formal occasions. I mean, for my sister’s wedding everyone wore kilts, we had matching ones for the wedding party, they were really itchy and not very nice. But I have two of my own.’

‘Well I was just wondering. It’s something I didn’t know about you. Will you wear one for the summer ball?’

Miles stops licking the milk from his spoon and looks up at that.

‘Tooooomm, you have to wear a kilt for the ball. You said you wore one for formal occasions and that’s a formal occasion if I ever heard of one.’

Tom looks at him in despair. ‘I might. But it will have nothing to do with you if I do.’

Tom finishes his cereal in silence, ignoring all of Miles’ attempts to tell him what he wears underneath his kilt. Rosalie leaves with a smirk, but only after reminding Miles that Tom is very proud of his Scottish nationality and that she’s sure he’s traditional in his kilt wearing. Tom wants to kill her.

Miles continues to badger him for the rest of the day. Eventually Tom relents and admits that he was planning on wearing a kilt to the summer ball even before Rosalie brought it up. Miles practically drools in delight and asks for a preview with a naughty look on his face. Tom tells him he’ll have to wait and see and then regrets it when Miles sulks and he doesn’t get a goodnight kiss.

* * *

‘So, are you and Miles going to the summer ball together?’ Rosalie asks.

‘Er, well we’re going as a group aren’t we?’

‘You know what I mean, are you going as a couple?’ she clarifies.

‘We haven’t really talked about it. I think so though.’

‘You should probably talk about it,’ she advises, ‘I mean, I heard Flora asking him who he was taking and he just tried to avoid the question. It would be an easy way of making your relationship public.’

He winces. ‘The thing is, I’m not sure it is a relationship. I mean, I want it to be… but I don’t really know what Miles wants and whenever I try to bring it up, he distracts me,’ he blushes slightly, thinking of the ways Miles distracts him and Rosalie smirks.

‘You’ve got it bad… and that ain’t good,’ she sings softly.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he says indignantly.

‘Oh, it’s a lyric, the last part wasn’t really for you, but you have got it bad. You really need to talk to him. Why not try somewhere where he can’t distract you? Somewhere that’s not your room?’

He has a mental image of Miles sucking him off in the living room and shakes his head. ‘I don’t think that would work. Miles doesn’t mind being in public.’

‘Urgh!’ she exclaims, ‘that’s more than I needed to know. Anyway, what I wanted to say was that you need to talk to him and I’ve said that, so I’ll leave you to try and work that out.’

As she leaves the room she looks dubiously at the sofa. ‘For future reference, have you umm?’ she raises her eyebrows suggestively instead of finishing her sentence.

‘Have we what?’

‘Have you soiled the sofa in your sexual adventures?’

He snorts with laughter. ‘I don’t think you really want to know.’

‘That’s a yes. I won’t be sitting there again.’

‘Better avoid the whole room then,’ he retorts cheekily, laughing even harder when he hears her horrified shriek.

 

‘Soooo, you know how we’re going to the summer ball?’

‘Yeah?’

Miles stretches and tucks an arm behind his head to look at Tom who is fiddling nervously with the quilt cover.

‘I mean, well, I was wondering, are we going together?’

‘Of course we’re going together, we bought our tickets together and we’ve even booked a taxi, everyone in this house is going.’

Tom wonders if Miles is being deliberately obtuse.

No, I mean, are we,’ he pauses to point between them, ‘are we going together?’

‘What, like, as a couple?’ Miles sounds horrified and Tom immediately wishes he hadn’t brought it up.

‘Don’t worry, it was a silly question, of course not, why would I have thought otherwise.’

‘No, Tom, hang on a minute, I was just surprised. I mean, we’re not a couple are we?’

‘This feels pretty couple-y to me,’ Tom says bitterly.

‘Well we act like a couple sometimes, but like, in the real world, outside this house, we’re not. I mean we haven’t told anyone, we haven’t even told the girls.’

‘Rosalie knows.’

‘She doesn’t really count though, and she worked it out didn’t she,’ Miles says.

‘I haven’t told anyone because you didn’t want to.’

‘It’s not that I don’t want to, I mean come on, you’re gorgeous, I want everyone to know that I get to cuddle you whenever I want. But it’s a pain having everyone know, they all get really invested in you and you have to go to parties together and on dates.’

‘What if I wanted to go on a date?’ blurts Tom, and now he’s started, he doesn’t want to stop. ‘What if I wanted everyone to know that you were mine? That they shouldn’t flirt with you and that you sure as hell shouldn’t be flirting with them. What if I wanted to walk out of this house holding your hand and go to the cinema and hold your hand and be introduced to your friends with you holding my hand? Is that too much, because it bloody well doesn’t seem like too much to ask.’

Miles gawps at him and Tom can’t deal with having him there anymore.

‘You need to go.’

‘Tom-’ Miles starts to say, but Tom cuts him off.

‘No, you need to go, I don’t want you here. Go back to your own bed. Find someone else to use as your teddy bear, find someone who’s doesn’t mind when you joke about relationships and being exclusive and going on dates. Because I can’t stand it.’

Miles seems to realise that Tom means what he is saying and for once he does as he is told, grabbing a shirt from the pile on the floor and striding out of the door before Tom can really regret what he said.

Tom is left to curl up on the other side of the bed, hand stretched into the rapidly cooling patch of warmth that Miles has left behind. If wakes up hugging Miles’ pillow and inhaling the comforting scent of his shampoo then that’s his own business.

 

When Rosalie tentatively asks how the discussion went the next day, Tom gives her a horrible look and refuses to answer. He and Miles ignore each other too and that night when he goes to bed, he realises it’s the first time in weeks that he’s had to go to bed without someone else there. The next night, although they haven’t spoken at all, Tom hears Miles creeping up the stairs at just past midnight. With a sigh, he puts his book down, pulls back the duvet on Miles’ side of the bed in invitation and rolls over to go to sleep. Just as silently, Miles comes in and lies down. Tom switches the light off and they lie there tensely for a few minutes until Tom reaches over and pulls Miles towards him. They might not be talking but they can still cuddle. Miles seems to dissolve into him and they fall asleep in a tangle of limbs, each comforted by the other’s presence even if the silence still hurts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my only notes for this chapter were 'NEED KILTED THOMAS IN MY LIFE' so there you go. Oh and because I'm impatient I'm probably going to be posting a chapter a day now :)


	17. The Summer Ball

The night of the Summer Ball creeps up on them while they’re still tiptoeing round each other. The girls know there’s been a disagreement but they seem confused that Tom and Miles aren’t arguing. Kitty and Flora even gang up to check that Tom’s not ill which makes him laugh. He wishes he could tell them what’s going on but even while he’s annoyed with Miles, he doesn’t want to give away anything without his permission. So the house is strangely subdued as they get ready, the girls whisking to and fro from the bathroom and into each other’s bedrooms to ask for advice and help. Tom gets ready and then realises he still has quite a while before they’re actually going to leave, so he sits down and does some revision while he waits. Rosalie finds him half an hour later, curled up on his bed in his kilt and has to laugh.

‘You look like someone from the start of a porn video,’ she exclaims.

‘And how would you know that?’ he asks, putting his book down and admiring her dress. ‘You look nice Rose, is it for anyone special?’

‘No, and I could say the same about you,’ she counters. ‘Very nice, I think many people will be pleased with your outfit tonight Tom.’

As they go out of his room, he offers her his arm as assistance for going down the stairs, having noticed quite how high her shoes are. They go down both flights of stairs arm in arm, chatting gently about nothing and they meet the others in the hall.

Kitty and Flora immediately exclaim over how handsome he looks and he is grateful because it gives him time to examine his feelings about how Miles looks. Miles, who is debonair and just slightly dangerous looking in his traditional evening dress, tie beautifully arranged and hair slicked back. They stare at each other over the heads of the girls and then Rosalie tugs on his arm and he hears the doorbell ring for the taxi. Miles offers an arm each to Flora and Kitty and makes a joke about being the luckiest man for having such beautiful dates. They cackle appreciatively and Tom wonders how much of their fussing had involved pre-drinking. By the looks of Flora’s flushed cheeks, she’s imbibed quite a lot already.

When they climb out of the taxi there are so many people lining up to get in and it’s incredibly easy for Tom to manoeuvre away from the others. Rosalie comes with him by forcefully linking her arm in his again and he doesn’t complain, after all, it’s Miles he wants to get away from. They get their student IDs and wristbands checked and once they’re actually in the hall, they follow the general stampede to the bar. Rosalie meets someone and drifts off after kissing him on the cheek and then he is alone in a crowd, fighting his way to the edges where hopefully he can while away the time before supper by people watching and avoiding Miles.

He’s standing by a column and looking vaguely around him when a voice pipes up beside him.

‘Are you Scottish?’

It’s a tiny girl, she only comes up to his elbow, but she’s grinning at him in a friendly fashion and he might as well try and be sociable.

‘Yeah, I think it’d be weird to be wearing a kilt otherwise.’

She giggles and he remembers why he’s not that fond of inane conversation with girls.

‘Would you like to dance?’

He’s taken aback, she’s more direct than most girls he usually talks to but he supposes that he doesn’t really have an excuse not to.

‘Umm, well I’m not very good, but yeah ok.’

He hopes that she only wants to dance because he really doesn’t want to have any awkward conversations tonight.

She holds out her hand and he shrugs and takes it, following her onto the dance floor. About halfway through the song he realises he’s quite enjoying himself. The girl, Becky, has proved to be entertaining really, she’d made a comment about another girl’s dress and when he’d joined in she’d looked curious but they’d then given up trying to dance properly and just swayed while whispering about the other dancers to each other. He was in the middle of laughing at one of her comments when he caught sight of Miles, enthusiastically twirling his dance partner before catching her expertly. His laugh stops abruptly and Becky looks concerned.

‘Are you okay?’ she asks sweetly, stopping dancing.

‘Yeah, I just, well I just saw someone I didn’t want to.’

He quickly gets off the dance floor and is sort of pleased that she follows him.

‘An ex?’ she said sympathetically.

‘No! That is, not really.’

‘You have that look. I like to call it ‘punched in the guts with feelings’ but you could call it something else.’

‘No, I think that’s pretty accurate,’ he chuckles. ‘It’s just kind of hard to see him at the moment. I guess it doesn’t help that we live together.’

‘You live together?’ she sounds horrified and he laughs again.

‘Yeah, I mean we’ve never officially been a couple, which is half the problem I suppose, and now we’re in this strange ‘not relationship’ and we’re not really talking and I just really miss him and it doesn’t seem like he’s missing me.’

‘Weeeell,’ she says, ‘if he’s the tall handsome boy in the green bow tie that sort of matches your kilt, then he’s not stopped staring at you since we moved over here.’

He looks up and sees Miles staring over his dance partner’s shoulder, barely moving, just watching him. Blushing, he looks down again but not before he’s seen Becky grinning at him.

‘That’s him isn’t it! He’s very handsome and it looks like he’s got feelings too you know. I’ve got to go and meet my friend for supper now, but you should talk to him. It was nice dancing with you Tom.’ She waves over her shoulder as she goes towards a group of people who are clearly waiting for her and he waves weakly back, still focussed on the look he saw on Miles’ face.

He goes into the dining room and somehow manages to find Rosalie. They sit with some of her musician friends and he hardly says anything. Rosalie looks concerned but he reassures her that he’s just thinking and she narrows her eyes at him before returning to a discussion of the dance band that’s been playing all evening. He can feel her checking on him every so often, eyes flicking back to him and scanning his face before she goes back to her conversation. He barely notices what he’s eaten, he cuts his meat mechanically and eats all the vegetables without noticing. In his head, Miles’s face is all he can see, that unmasked look of affection and worry that he keeps coming back to and wondering if he imagined. Miles has never looked at him like that before and it makes him wonder what he looks like when he looks at Miles, especially because he’s not nearly as good at hiding his feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so I split this chapter in two because otherwise it was going to be twice as long as all the others but now I'm regretting that so hey, two chapters today :)


	18. Miles to the rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The Summer Ball part II, if you haven't read part I you might be a little confuzzled) Also heads up, there's a bit of unwanted groping in this chapter but it gets headed off pretty quickly.

When supper is over, Rosalie asks him if he’s coming back to the main hall but he mutters something about not wanting to be around people and heads off to the bar. He sits on a bar stool, nursing a generous glass of whiskey and continues to brood. That is until some guy sits next to him and starts trying to chat him up.

After offering to buy him a drink and being brushed off, the guy doesn’t get the message. He introduces himself as Harry and obviously is expecting a name in return so Tom grudgingly mutters that his name is Tom. Then Harry starts talking about how whiskey is a very appropriate drink, especially for a Scot and to be honest, Tom just tunes him out, at least, that is, until Harry’s hand somehow moves from the bar top to Tom’s thigh. Tom jumps and quickly moves the hand off but after a few minutes it returns and Tom has a nasty feeling he’s trying to find a way into his kilt. He moves the hand again but it returns, sneaking up towards his crotch in a practised motion that has him shuffling away on his bar stool and murmuring a protest. But Harry follows him and Tom wonders why this should happen to him.

‘Look mate,’ he says, deliberately increasing his accent and standing up straight to try and intimidate the idiot, ‘I’m really not interested.’

‘Sure you are,’ Harry wheedles, ‘you’re wearing a kilt, that’s a sure sign you’re up for it.’

‘Leave him alone,’ booms a forbidding voice from behind Tom.

‘Who the hell are you,’ says Harry rudely.

Miles wraps an arm snugly around Tom’s waist and he tries not to sag back in relief.

‘I’m his boyfriend and you should learn what no means.’

Harry departs in disgust, yelling something about false advertising and Tom really does lean into Miles’ arm, feeling it tighten around him in response.

‘Are you alright?’ Miles asks gently.

‘I think so? I mean, I could probably have punched him and he’d have got the message but I’m not particularly fond of that method.’

Miles chuckles and Tom enjoys the vibrations from his chest that seem to sink comfortingly through his back.

‘Come on, let’s get you another drink and then I think we should maybe talk?’

He sounds endearingly unsure about the second half of his statement and Tom just want to hug him but he restrains himself. He really wants another drink actually.

He sits with Miles in a corner of the room that functions as the bar and sips another whiskey while they watch other revellers come in and out for drinks. To his surprise, Miles starts talking.

‘Umm, so I messed up. I mean, I saw you all dressed up in your kilt and I really wanted to kiss you and I didn’t care what the girls thought and… I really should have kissed you then-‘

‘But you didn’t,’ interrupts Tom, with a wave of his glass to punctuate his statement. ‘You didn’t, you just stood there looking gorgeous and not saying anything.’

Miles laughs, ‘Yeah, I was stupid. And then I lost you before we went in and then I saw you dancing with that girl and you were laughing and looking like you were enjoying yourself and you’ve just been so miserable lately-‘

‘Your fault,’ Tom points out.

‘Oh yeah,’ Miles nods like one of those nodding toys you find in cars, ‘totally my fault. And I’ve been looking for you all night and then that creep was feeling you up and I was going to leave you because I thought that you maybe wanted to be felt up but then you said no and he wasn’t going away so…’

‘You called yourself my boyfriend…’ says Tom, suddenly remembering, ‘but you don’t do boyfriends, you don’t do relationships and couples and all of that…’

‘Well that’s what I’m trying to tell you. I- umm- errr, Iwantustobeboyfriends,’ he gabbles.

Tom screws up his face in confusion. ‘I know I’m not entirely sober but did you just speak another language to me? Because I’m not a linguist so you’re going to have to translate.’

Miles puts his head down and runs his hands through his hair. Without thinking, Tom reaches out and rubs his shoulder comfortingly. When Miles speaks, he’s still got his head in his hands but each word is very clear.

‘I want us to be boyfriends.’

Tom blinks in surprise and stops rubbing Miles’ shoulder. He can’t believe what he has just heard.

‘Do you mean it?’ he asks, ‘because I don’t think I can cope if you turn around in two days and say that actually you don’t want this, you don’t want us.’

Miles looks up and the hope in his eyes makes Tom want to hug him, so he does. He wraps his arms around Miles and feels the comfort of Miles’ familiar scent wash over him and Miles’ arms wrapping tentatively around him in return. Miles speaks so softly that if his mouth weren’t right next to Tom’s ear, he probably wouldn’t be able to hear him.

‘I want this, I want us, whatever that means.’

Tom pulls away and reaches out towards Miles’ face. Then they are kissing and all Tom can think is that he’s missed this, Miles’ familiar face beneath his fingertips, the rasp of stubble against his lips when their kisses get a little off centre, Miles’ needy little whines and their gasping breaths as they break apart, both grinning madly.

Tom looks around to see if anyone has noticed them but they’re safe in their little corner for now. Miles wraps an arm around his shoulders and they just sit for a while, enjoying being near each other and being in total accord. They are disturbed by a loud gaggle of girls who pile into the bar to finish their evening off with cocktails. Miles takes Tom’s hand and leads him out of the room, ignoring the muffled comments about how cute they look together. Ok, maybe inwardly he’s preening but he has some pride.

The band has moved on to smoochy dance tracks that sound like Michael Bublé songs. Tom spots Rosalie swaying happily in the arms of one of her musician friends, together they are eye catching, both tall long haired red-heads in ball gowns. Tom stops, suddenly seized with a feeling that he wants to dance, but more importantly he wants to follow Rosalie’s example, sway in the middle of all these people and look so damn happy doing it.

Miles stops with him, still holding his hand and looks questioningly at him.

‘Let’s dance,’ he says.

To his surprise, Miles agrees with no hint of an objection.

They stand for a moment and Tom realises that he’s never really danced with another man before. Miles solves the problem of where their arms should go by draping his arms around Tom’s neck and resting his head on Tom’s shoulder. Tom wraps his arms snugly around Miles’ waist and sways gently to the music. There are people all around them but at the same time the moment feels so intimate. He catches Rosalie’s eye and they grin happily at each other. He and Miles sway comfortably for a few more songs and then Miles mumbles something about needing some air and they separate. Tom notices that Miles is careful to catch Tom’s hand as he walks off the dance floor and his heart feels like it might burst.

There’s a dreamlike quality about what happens next. They find a corner somewhere along a corridor and Miles pulls Tom towards him and they kiss for what seems like hours. Miles is pressed right up against him and occasionally he’ll shift and Tom will notice that he’s hard against Tom’s thigh but he doesn’t seem to want to do anything more than kiss and Tom is so happy about that. He feels like a teenager tucked away in a corner at a school disco and that impression is furthered by the sudden shrieks as they are discovered. Of course it would be Flora and Kitty, on their way home.

‘Oh my god!’ squawks Flora, only to be immediately echoed by Kitty.

Tom and Miles disentangle themselves a bit and are met with the sight of both girls jumping in excitement with their arms waving dangerously close to each other’s faces.

‘I knew it! I told you didn’t I,’ yelps Flora at Kitty.

‘And I didn’t believe you! I didn’t think they’d ever work it out themselves!’ replies Kitty.

‘Hey!’ Miles interjects, slightly insulted by the thought that he and Tom didn’t have enough intelligence to work something, whatever that was.

‘I’m so happy Kitty, my predictions came true!’

‘It’s wonderful, and now they can be ridiculously in love forever!’

‘Oh, do you think we can start planning the wedding?’

‘Yes, what about children? Wouldn’t that be adorable?’

‘Maybe they should start with a puppy? I don’t think Miles would cope with the responsibility of a baby quite yet.’

‘Yes, maybe you’re right. We can write a list of names though. Gillan-Hesketh-Thorne or Hesketh-Thorne-Gillan? Or maybe one of them will change their name? Or Miles could drop one of his because they can’t have a triple barrelled child, that’s just cruel.’

Tom wrapped his arms around Miles from behind and whispered in his ear, ‘do you think, if we left quickly and quietly, they would miss us?’

Miles nods and with an eye on the still bouncing, clearly very inebriated girls, they sneak off, using a back door to get out and sniggering all the way.

‘This reminds me of when we used to sneak out of the dorms at school,’ reminisces Miles as they negotiate a tricky section of the path back to civilisation.

‘Did you do a lot of that then?’ asks Tom curiously. ‘Is it like in the books?’

‘Nah, not really. I mean the atmosphere is kind of the same but we hardly ever sneaked out actually and I’m sure the teachers knew exactly where we were sneaking out to, honestly. It was a lot like a normal school, only we lived there as well as worked there. Think about living in halls last year, only with teachers everywhere and no alcohol or sex and you’ve pretty much got it.’

Hand in hand (Tom still couldn’t believe that Miles was voluntarily holding his hand) they wandered back home, Miles telling boarding school stories and Tom retaliating with pranks from his time at school.

When they get back to the house they head immediately up the stairs, there is no hesitation on the first landing and they go straight into Tom’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You should know that a lot of important research went into writing the summer ball... it's necessary to know exactly what one's characters look like in evening dress you know! Oh and I headcanon Rosalie dancing with someone who looks like Rose Leslie because they'd look stunning together (sorry Josalie fans) :)


	19. Explanations

‘Well, if it isn’t the lovebirds,’ Flora says pointedly as they wander into the kitchen for breakfast. Tom attempts to drop Miles’ hand but then realises happily that Miles’ grip hasn’t slackened in the slightest. Kitty glares at their joined hands and drinks her tea with a judgemental air but at least she doesn’t say anything. Not yet anyway. The kitchen is mostly silent apart from the clinking of spoons in bowls and the sound of someone spreading butter on their toast while Tom and Miles get their breakfast. They sit down together on one side of the table and Tom realises that the girls must have left those seats intentionally so that they could sit together. He feels a bit better about trying to explain what has been going on to them while Miles is right next to him but there is also an air of the interview about it. The table separates the two sides with Rosalie at the head of the table as referee. Actually, he thinks she is firmly on his side but she’ll try and remain neutral for the sake of the proceedings.

Rosalie as self-appointed referee begins. ‘So, I’ve told them a little bit. Mainly because they held me down and sat on me and tickled me until I admitted that I knew something was going on between you two.’

Tom tries not to laugh, really he does, but the image of Flora and Kitty holding Rosalie down is too much this early in the …wait it’s the afternoon now but who cares. Once he’s started laughing, Miles joins in and reluctantly, the girls do too.

Once Flora has finished wiping her tears of laughter off her face with the sleeve of her hoodie though, she returns to the business at hand.

‘So, how long has this been going on then?’ she asks, motioning between them with a jam covered knife. It threatens to drip and she hurriedly puts it down again.

‘Err well-‘

‘That’s a really good question,’ interrupts Miles, ‘and I don’t think we’re sure of it ourselves, are we Tom?’

‘Eh no,’ he says, realising that actually he knows exactly where it started for him. It started as soon as soon as Miles crawled into his bed. Or perhaps even earlier than that, when they first kissed. Or even, maybe, before that. Because honestly, he'd known Miles was going to be trouble from the moment he’d seen the posh idiot in the bar and he had started annoying him.

Miles recognises that he has drifted off and redirects everyone’s attention to him, ‘anyway, the point is, we’re together officially now and that’s what you wanted to hear right? Now, if everyone’s expressed everything they want to, I’m going to go and have a shower. And I’m going to take my boyfriend with me because we can do that now!’

Miles grabbed a slightly stunned Tom and pulled him out of the kitchen and a chorus of outraged yells followed them up the stairs as the girls realised what he was suggesting. Tom is tugged into the bathroom and Miles locks the door before he has even started to protest.

‘Miles! What if someone needs to use the bathroom?’ he is giggling and he feels that this doesn’t make for a very persuasive argument.

‘Let them wait, we have to wait for ages sometimes when they’re doing their faces or whatever it is girls do in here.’

‘You can talk, you take ages in here every day,’ Tom points out.

‘Yes but now I can take ages in here with you every day which will be much more fun,’ says Miles with an eyebrow wiggle and an evil grin.

They hear footsteps thudding up the stairs and then a pounding on the door, just where Tom has been resting his head. Someone tries the door and realises it is locked.

‘You two! Get out of there!’ yells Flora.

‘No!’ Miles shouts back, ‘and we’re about to have really loud shower sex so you should maybe move away from the door!’

‘Miles!’ Tom shouts, and is echoed by the girls outside.

‘Yep, and we’re getting started now,’ Miles grins.

‘You’re enjoying this aren’t you?’ Tom says, grinning back.

‘It’s what you wanted isn’t it? Me to acknowledge our relationship and maybe even flaunt it?’

‘Um yeah, I mean I didn’t have this particular scenario in mind…’

‘But now we’re here, we might as well horrify our housemates?’

‘Yeah ok,’ Tom says huskily, pulling Miles towards him. They collide with the door quite loudly and Tom can just about hear the girls murmuring on the other side.

‘Shall we get rid of them?’ he asks Miles, ‘they’re kind of killing the mood.’

‘Yeah. How about some moans? I can do an excellent panting shriek…’

‘I’m not even going to ask,’ Tom says, shaking his head in amazement as Miles begins moaning and gasping, almost as if Tom were doing what he had suggested. After a few moans they hear a sound of disgust and loud footsteps going down the stairs. A moment later, very loud Tchaikovsky reverberates around them from the sitting room below, courtesy of Rosalie’s expensive sound system.

‘I guess that’s her blessing to do what we want,’ shrugs Miles. He turns on the shower and starts to strip. Tom follows suit, admiring the long lines of Miles’ body as he does. He’s only human after all, and it’s not as if he’s not allowed to look. He can even touch if he wants. And he really, really, does want.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah these idiots *shakes head fondly* It's a very good thing I quickly reread this before posting because there were some very interesting annotations which, while hilarious, were obviously me hyped up on cookies and running on very little sleep...


	20. Ways to cope with exam hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smut? smut

‘Urgh,’ Tom says as he walks into the kitchen.

Miles looks up from his reading and waits for Tom to elaborate.

‘Save me from people who see group presentations as a great way to do none of the work. Or swear they’re going to do it and conveniently forget. And now I have to make 5 more powerpoint slides to this girl’s specifications because she doesn’t have powerpoint apparently. I gave up trying to explain that there are computers literally everywhere on campus that she could use.’

‘Sounds like you’ve had an annoying day,’ Miles says, coming up behind him and sliding his arms round Tom’s waist. Tom leans back and rests his head on Miles’ shoulder.

‘Yeah. And I really don’t have time to eat, I’ve got a load of reading to do as well.’

Miles bites back a sigh of irritation at that. They had planned to eat together and take advantage of the girls being out but it looked like that was off the table. Still, Tom wasn’t going to get much work done while seething at the stupidity of this unknown girl.

‘How about I help you calm down a bit?’ he murmurs, stroking his hands across Tom’s waist and hinting at downward movement.

Tom’s breath hitches but he makes a valiant effort to turn Miles down.

‘No, I really have to – oh fuck it,’ he turns in Miles’ arms and pulls them together. Miles can already feel him half hard against his thigh and he realises that they might not make it to their room. They rut against each other, mouths messily meeting and Miles pressing Tom back against the kitchen cabinets.

‘More, I need more,’ Tom gasps, breaking away from Miles and whining as Miles uses the opportunity to trail kisses and licks along his jawline.

‘Shush, it’s ok, I’ve got you,’ Miles soothes, glad that they have the house to themselves because the noises Tom is making are absolutely amazing. He somehow manages to move them so that Tom is sitting on the chair Miles had abandoned and he is kneeling in front of him, reaching for Tom’s belt before he even knows what is happening. Tom relaxes back into the chair as Miles’ hand brushes his cock and then releases it from the confines of his trousers. Miles grins wolfishly before leaning in to lick up and round the head, looking up innocently when Tom gasps and swears. Miles would love to just stay here and tease Tom until he is gasping and shivering and demanding but the floor is hard tile under his knees and he can tell that Tom just really needs to come so he engages his considerable talents to ensure just that. He swallows Tom down as far as he can and then keeps going, concentrating on the sounds Tom makes when he flickers his tongue against the underside of his cock. Tom’s hand which had been resting on his head suddenly tugs hard on his hair in warning and then he comes. Miles swallows as much as he can and then has to sit up to cough, smiling in satisfaction as he sees Tom’s blissed out face. He can feel that he has come on his chin but then Tom tugs him forward to kiss him, groaning in surprise at the taste. Miles breaks the kiss because his knees really are hurting and Tom follows him up and they stand exchanging gentle kisses.

‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to work after that,’ Tom tells him gravely.

Miles clears his throat and grins, ‘it was my pleasure. Now go and do your work.’

Tom motions to his obviously over-tight jeans in confusion. ‘What about you?’

‘I have my hand. And maybe thinking of me will make you work faster?’

Tom pulls him in again, kissing him roughly and palming at his cock through his jeans, making Miles gasp.

‘You should start thinking up things you want me to do to say thanks,’ he says as he grabs his bag and leaves the kitchen. Miles swears and opens his fly noisily, gasping loudly as he puts his hand on his neglected cock. He hears Tom trip up the stairs and swear at the sound and laughs. Hopefully Tom will think of that as an incentive to work quickly.

* * *

Tom really hates exams. He used to be good at them, when there were facts he could learn and only a certain number of things the examiners could ask of him. But it’s got worse over the years and now he is strongly tempted to just give up and put his head down on his desk and nap for the rest of the time. He needs the sleep, it would be easy. But instead he picks up his pen again and tries to make sense of the next question. If he can decipher what on earth they are asking, that would be a start.

Coming out of massive exam rooms into the real world again is really nice. It’s nicer still when he spots Miles by the entrance gates. He’s looking towards Tom with that warm light in his eye and he’s holding two cups from the posher student café, Tom hopes that one contains coffee for him.

Once Tom has got close enough, Miles calls to him.

‘How was it?’

‘Not great, but not too bad really,’ he replies.

‘Well, I thought, that as it was your last exam, you deserved some kind of celebration so I brought drinks and there are cookies in my pocket.’

‘I could kiss you right now,’ Tom says without thinking.

‘Well why don’t you?’

Tom looks directly into Miles’ eyes. He takes the coffee that Miles is holding out to him and before he has time to wimp out, he leans in and gently presses his lips to Miles’.

‘Thanks,’ he says as he draws back a little.

‘No problem,’ smiles Miles, ‘there are some girls behind you who are looking at me as if I’ve destroyed all their hopes and dreams. Why didn’t you tell me you had a fan club?’

‘I don’t,’ Tom replies and leans in to kiss him again.

‘Dammit, I was hoping he was single,’ they hear as a group of girls walks past them.

‘I think you do,’ chuckles Miles.

‘Shut up. Can we go and drink this coffee and eat cookies now please. And don’t you have an exam tomorrow? Are you sure you can spare this time?’ he asks, suddenly concerned.

‘Don’t worry about it. I don’t think last minute revision is effective anyway. I’d much rather go to the park and eat cookies and maybe kiss my boyfriend.’

‘Let’s do that then.’

Miles slips his hand into Tom’s and they start walking towards the park. He’s not really focussing on anything but then words start hitting his ears and tension begins to radiate from Tom.

‘Urgh, look at them, parading themselves like that. God I knew there was something wrong with him. Now we know why he had all those marks on him, only a gay would let himself be marked up like that.’

Miles stops walking and begins to turn and find out the source of the remarks but Tom’s firm grip stops him.

‘Ignore him. Please. He’s an idiot who hates me because I told Kitty not to go out with him.’

‘Is that Elliot?’ Miles hisses, interested to discover that one of the people Tom moans about actually exists and is as foul as he sounds.

‘Yes. And he’s looking for a reaction. He’ll try to make a scene and I don’t want to let him.’

‘But I don’t want him wandering around spewing such idiocy about my boyfriend,’ Miles points out gently.

Tom blushes as he tends to when Miles uses the boyfriend card but he doesn’t stop Miles from turning to confront Elliot.

‘You must be Elliot,’ he says with his most insincerely charming smile, ‘I’ve heard so much about you.’

Elliot gawps, taken back by this unexpected approach. Tom thinks that maybe he’s been so used to everyone ignoring him and keep their heads down that he’s forgotten that some people might confront him.

‘I’m Miles, Tom’s boyfriend,’ Miles continues, ‘is there something you’d like to say to us?’

Elliot stammers and winces and doesn’t actually say anything and Tom feels a particular kind of delight seeing him so clearly unable to manage the situation.

‘I thought not,’ Miles says, ‘I’d like you to know that you shouldn’t say that kind of thing or even think it. You might find that you say it among more violent people next time and we wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. It might make you even less attractive.’

Miles grins, sharklike, and turns, taking Tom with him.

‘Lesson one in confronting bullies, Tom, if you confront them, very often you’ll find they have absolutely nothing to say. Now, shall we go and eat these cookies?’

* * *

A few days later, Tom waits anxiously outside the main sports centre where Miles is sitting his last exam of the year. People have been filtering out slowly discussing the paper and he was relieved to hear some of them using French words, at least he’s probably come to the right place. A huge crowd bursts through the double doors, some of the girls skipping with glee that their last exam is over and Tom spots Miles in the middle of a group of boys, talking with such animation that Tom can understand why they’re all staring at him. Miles’ gaze drifts over him where he stands in the shade of a tree, holding two cups and wearing a sheepish smile. His eyes drift and then snap back to him as a smile breaks over his face. He quickly finishes what he’s saying and Tom doesn’t think he even says goodbye before walking swiftly towards Tom. The confused gazes of the group follow him as he walks right up to Tom and plants a kiss on his lips before taking one of the cups. Without looking back he slides an arm around Tom’s waist and squeezes him close.

Miles is smiling so hard that Tom thinks all the worrying was worth it. ‘Thanks for coming,’ he says as he sips his coffee.

‘That’s ok, I mean you did the same for me,’ Tom says.

‘Yeah but I mean, I’m the grand gesture person. You’re the nice all the time person. And I was so grumpy with you this morning. I spent a lot of that exam thinking of interesting ways I could make it up to you.’

‘Miles!’ Tom yelps, knowing that he should really be used to this kind of thing by now.

‘What? But now I can do them to say thank you for being so sweet. It was really nice to see you.’

‘Was the exam that bad?’ laughs Tom.

‘Frankly, it wasn’t fun. But it’s done now and I want to go and drink coffee and forget all about it. Did you bring cookies?’

‘I brought cake.’

‘Even better.’

Someone calls over to them, ‘Miles, are you coming to the pub? We’re going to camp out and get as drunk as possible before we get kicked out.’

‘Sounds tempting but I’ve had a better offer,’ Miles laughs and slides his arm more obviously around Tom. He starts walking away and Tom has no choice but to follow. Miles’ arm slides from his waist and he pats him familiarly on the bum before hooking his thumb securely into Tom’s belt loop.

‘Everyone’s watching!’ Tom hisses.

‘Yep,’ Miles says smugly. ‘I want them to know exactly what my better offer is.’  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I think Miles and Tom deal very maturely (heh) with exam hell but what do I know... This seems like an excellent time to wish anyone who has exams now/ soon good luck!


	21. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just to point out in case anyone is confused, Miles is a language student and this means that he spends his third year abroad.

‘Tom!’ Miles exclaims, making grabby hands towards the camera.

Tom tries not to smile, he’s supposed to be grumpy but the sight of Miles on his screen after almost a week of no contact is making him happier already.

‘Hi Miles,’ he replies.

‘Are you still annoyed with me? I’m so sorry, you know I am, stuff got in the way and then the bloody internet died and I’m really sorry, I’ve missed you.’

Tom allows himself to smile and Miles visibly relaxes.

‘It’s okay,’ he sighs, ‘I just – I missed you too.’

‘Good,’ Miles says smugly. ‘I like being missed, it means I matter.’

‘Of course you matter you idiot,’ Tom says affectionately.

They chat for a while about Miles’ work placement and the other students he’s met this week, Tom swears he seems to meet new people every single day. Miles moans a bit about his year abroad essays and then turns the subject to Tom and what he’s been up to.

‘Lectures are fine, Yelland got chucked out for messing with a dangerous chemical, Kitty found a boyfriend and Rosalie at last confirmed that she has a girlfriend,’ Tom lists, checking each thing off on his mental list.

‘Everything seems to happen all at once there doesn’t it!’ Miles exclaims, ‘have you met Rosalie’s girlfriend?'

‘No but I have a strong feeling it’s the girl she danced with at the summer ball, you know, the one who basically was a mirror version of her.’

‘Wow, I remember they looked really good together.’

‘Yeah,’ Tom agrees.

‘I wish I was there to meet her,’ Miles sighs, ‘I really miss being with you lot.’

‘I know, but it’s only a month more and then you’re coming home.’

‘And you’re coming to visit me!’

‘Yeah, so you get to see me in less than a month.’

Tom smiles at the thought. He can’t wait to see Miles again, hug him and kiss him and just be in the same country as him. They’ve not seen each other in person for seven months and he’s really missed him. Skype, although very helpful, just isn’t the same as actually being able to reach over and touch someone.

They talk some more about Tom coming to visit and then Tom suddenly realises that he’s got to go to his next lecture.

‘Shit Miles, sorry, I’ve got to go, my lecturer will have a fit if I’m late.’

‘Okay, bye,’ Miles says cheerily, waving, ‘love you!’

‘Love you too,’ Tom replies automatically, clicking the end call button before really registering what he’s just said.

He gathers his stuff together, knowing he’s definitely forgotten something important but he has other things on his mind. Miles just said he loves him and he replied ‘love you too.’ Miles loves him. He loves Miles. He knows that he’s loved Miles for ages but he’s never said it and now Miles loves him and he loves Miles and they’ve said it to each other and…

He gets to his lecture five minutes late and not even the pointed glare of the lecturer can dim the happiness he feels. His grin is threatening to split his face and he feels somewhat ridiculous. He doesn’t even start making notes until half an hour in, he’s too busy hearing those magical words over and over again in his head.

 

* * *

 

They skype a few more times that month but somehow those words don’t happen again. Tom wonders if they have both scared themselves or if it was just a side effect of ending the call quickly. Whatever it is, he resolves to say it to Miles when he sees him.

The plane lands in Madrid and he’s already jittery. The lady next to him glances at him in annoyance as his left knee hits her leg again. He wants to apologise but at the same time he doesn’t care. For all she knows, he could hate flying, not be terrified of seeing his boyfriend again. His boyfriend who he loves.

Going through passport control takes very little time and his suitcase appears on the baggage reclaim belt incredibly quickly. He can’t tell if it has taken no time at all or if his perception of time is confused by the anticipation of seeing Miles again. He comes through an archway and suddenly there’s a crowd of people waiting to meet other people. He can see a lot of name signs and then suddenly there’s Miles, grinning from ear to ear and looking incredible.

Tom picks up his bag and half runs towards his boyfriend, feeling a grin of similar proportions on his face. He plonks the case down and there is Miles, right there, in front of him. They hug for so long that Tom feels like their torsos have merged together and Miles keeps whispering in his ear though he can only make out some of the words.

‘Missed you… so good… hi… god I’ve missed you.’

He thinks he is probably replying but he doesn’t have much control over what is spilling out of his mouth, it seems to be pure undiluted feelings.

Eventually they peel apart and are just staring at each other until Miles grins again.

‘God I’ve missed you,’ he says. ‘Hi, how are you?’

‘I’m… yeah… missed you too,’ Tom says incoherently. ‘I love you.’

Miles’ grin widens impossibly. ‘I love you too.’

He pulls Tom towards him and kisses him soundly on the mouth, ignoring everyone around them already staring at their lengthy reunion. Finally he releases a slightly dazed Tom and still keeping hold of his hand he begins to walk towards the exit.

‘Can I take a bag? Shall we go back to my place?’

The idiotic wiggle of his eyebrows sends Tom into fits of giggles and they walk out, laughing, into the sunshine and warmth of Madrid, together and happy.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eee so this is the end. like actually wow. I'm kind of amazed.  
> There will be a few cut/extra scenes posted separately which is why I've made this fic part of a series.  
> Thank you to everyone who's read/left kudos/commented, but in particular thanks to Hannah who encouraged me and is the reason there is smut tbh.


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